A New Life Burdened With Regrets
by WilliamDeWitt
Summary: Shay wanted to ensure that the Manuscript would never reach their hands again. And he is successful... In a peculiar way. Far from their reach and yet far from his world, Shay tries to adapt to his new life in a world full of manipulators of elements and adventures on a different level. All because of a stupid piece of jewelry.
1. Chapter 1

"I will not let you run away."

Kesegowasee´s threat unfazed Shay Patrick Cormac as he jumps out of ground level and runs up a trunk conveniently chopped down to provide a way up to the tree branches. The snow storm picks up without warning and Shay takes a moment to hold on to a branch. He can´t turn back, especially now that they decided to downright bombard the forest. The rock blockade, originally intended to cut out his escape, had in a small way delayed reinforcements and trapped them with the mortar projectiles, yet such an advantage would be short lived.

They are Assassins, trained to find a way around messes regardless of the dreadful situations or the obstacles in their path. And besides, the mortars had ceased roaring.

The storm subsides for the time being and Shay wastes no time in making use of that. He hops from branch to branch while retaining the proper balance to not lose speed as well as not fall over. A musket bullet blurs past him and Shay halts in a branch disoriented. In a feat of luck (created by him obviously) he manages to keep still and not fall down to the vegetation. Recovered from the shock, he draws one of his flintlocks, points it to the lookout on his left and fires. He didn´t kill him since that went against his nature; he only incapacitated him with a shot to the leg. He tosses the pistol to the river running some meters away from him and continues.

"Resistance is not of your best interest. You´d do best in giving up now!"

" _I have to move"_ , Shay hisses mentally.

Bullets and rocks fly high to hit him, few hitting him but fazing him. Sick of the persistent bastards, Shay closes in on a lookout post where a stationed sniper aimed at his chest with a smirk. He devises a plan at the speed of sound. He lands a tree branch away from the sniper and jumps to the right and out of the man´s sights. A wasted bullet flies out of the musket and Shay, not sparing a smirk to the enraged lookout, pushes him out of the post while planting a smoke bomb, with the lit removed and on countdown to explosion, on the man´s belt.

When the man lands on the snow and causes some men to slow down and go around him, the smoke bomb blows up, covering the ground with a large and high thick smoke cloud. Satisfied, Shay proceeds through another network of branches.

People behind him on the branches gradually catch up with him, Kesegowasee leading them, so Shay appreciates that the aerial getaway ends with a thinner branch of a fir. He hops to that branch and, in a combination of landing and leap movements, he performs the regular leap of faith he had been taught to use.

" _Keep the arms stretched, flip in the air to face the ground with your back and close your eyes. If done correctly, the danger is minimal and you´ll feel free._ ", Achilles` advices echoed in his mind.

" _I´ve got moves you´ve never seen me use, Shay. But continue to practice and you´ll get there_ ", Liam´s face lit up in a grin in his mind.

" _And you´re mistaken if any training will make you a proper Assassin. Do you even know what that means?"_ , Shay visualized Chevalier scowling him prior to captaining _The Morrigan_.

Down below a large amount of leafs under a layer of snow softened the impact and Shay gains control of his memories. He barges out of the landing area and cuts through the snow to the left. The screams of authority fly with the wind but not the semi-muffled sounds of runners behind him. He throws a quick glance to his back. The brown and orange of their clothes was unmistakably coming closer to him. He grunted and kicked his way out of the gradually thinner layer of snow.

"Stop Cormac!"

"What are you doing Shay?", a particular feminine voice demanded.

Shay ignored the question from Hope, one of his closest friends, and kicks one last time to make way. His boots start to hit more stable ground and he breaks into a sprint, unsure of where to go next.

" _Get to the cliff"_ , Shay screams inwardly.

And he did, hoping that they´d stop their pursuit when he´d be out of their hands and guns` reach. He sees movement to his right side and rolls over a human projectile of orange and brown. Not losing momentum he resumes the sprint, resisting the urge to smirk at his attacker´s curse to focus on his destination. Up, up, to the end, he slows down and stops in two calculated steps nearly in the edge of the cliff, close to be able to dive and to look at its bottom. He bites his lips defeated. The cliff was high, maybe too high for someone to survive the fall and, if by chance he did, the sharp rocks would lower his survival chances to zero.

He was trapped between two monsters. Which was the lesser of the two evils?

The pursuers catch up with Shay, panting loudly from the chase. He recognizes the clinging of Chevalier´s favorite sword sheathed on his hip, the bull like grunts of Kesegowasee, and the cocking of the hammer of a flintlock.

"That´s enough!"

Liam, Hope, Chevalier, Kesegowasee and if he wasn´t imagining wrong, Achilles too, leading the pursuit. They had all come to stop the traitor to the Brotherhood from stealing the Manuscript and flee with it. All his comrades with the same objective.

Shay lowers his white hood. In his perspective it would be useless and a shame to wear it any longer. He´d die that night, looking or not like an Assassin, and he´d rather die not looking like one. He was a mass murderer of almost an entire city´s populace, the executioner of thousands of men, women and children in Lisbon, and he had done all that under the Brotherhood´s misled orders. Even touching that Apple of Eden… no, not an Apple, rather, a structure that held the world together… Even touching that darn thing had been a mistake. And with millions of deaths came the realization that it took a city to glance at a mirror and see a killer of British soldiers doing their duties and of other people, who probably didn´t deserve their fate and would do good to humanity. Most Templars, sure, but men with lives and loved ones all the same.

He had wanted to stop that from happening to another city, he had had to make amends as he had told Achilles moments ago. But what had they done to his warning? Discarded, assumed that it had come from a broken man who had failed a complex task for his inexperience on the job!

Achilles might be the Mentor, his family might be dead and he might have left scarred, but Liam had fooled himself for thinking he´d leave the matter unattended… There was no excuse for such a level of madness.

Shay turns around to face them. Chevalier with a hand on the pistol in case of need, Kesegowasee gripping the axe´s handle, Achilles piercing Shay´s soul with his authoritative look. Liam pointing the flintlock to Shay´s head with a mask of coldness, Hope next to Achilles looking uneasy. Probably the whole rest of the Brotherhood behind them, they were too many to count and give importance.

They all had their hoods up or a trait tricorn or broad hat on. United by a Brotherhood that shed blood with earthquakes and would continue to do so. It was a shame indeed for Shay.

"Give back the Manuscript Shay.", Hope begs. "I´m sure Achilles…"

Would spare him? Make it quick? Oh no. Shay knew better than that.

"I cannot.", he refuses in his ruffed voice. "I will not let this happen again! All those souls lost…"

His eyes relive the scenes he came across while fleeing the shaking city: Crumbling buildings crushing people, the fires that had raged the streets, the cracked and leveled streets lifting the city like a balance. But the people screaming in Portuguese for their families or salvation, running around for protection, was the rotten cherry in the cake. He had ruined their lives. Nothing would change that and wash the blood on his hands.

"… one more hardly matters.", the grief keeps his voice loud enough to be hearable.

He spares Liam a look. His choice was made. The lesser of two evils awaited him a dive away and only Liam had the power to stop him.

" _Leave me be",_ He pleads with his look.

He´d miss him above all else. His best friend, often the older brother figure, his first mate in every area and the member he trusted more in the Brotherhood. Not many people had understood Shay throughout his life like Liam or given him something to live for.

Shay inhales deeply and imperceptibly, swings an arm back to make sure the book is safe on his clothes and turns around. He takes a step forward and faces his fate. He had always been a fighter and he wasn´t going to stop now.

"Shay!", Liam calls out.

" _No, Liam"_ , Shay wants to sigh.

He steps forward again and leans forward to dive. Then there´s the sound of a flintlock firing and the unbearable pain of a bullet lodging itself on the left superior side of his back. Shay can only grunt and narrow his eyes, unable to stop the force of the bullet from throwing him head on off the cliff. Instant surprise fades to be replaced with the feeling of sadness and betrayal for Liam´s action.

" _Business is business, Shay. Never forget that!",_ Liam had stated once on a mission on Halifax.

He´s thankful for falling unconscious before the landing.

* * *

He flips twice in the air and slams in the water on his belly. Immobile from passing out, he floats away in the icy waters, gradually further away from the cliff and the men and woman watching him go. Achilles doesn´t waste time in ordering everyone to get to a rowboat and get Shay´s body back. Most scatter in multiple directions to get to the dock, others take a while longer to watch Shay drift away, like a sad Liam and Hope, grieving for the death of his friend.

"I´m killing Chevalier for this.", Liam mutters. He wasn´t thinking straight, but who cared? Shay had died, a traitor, but still his friend.

"Don´t Liam. Forget it, let´s just go.", Hope has him think of the orders. "Maybe he´s just unconscious and we can save him."

Liam isn´t convinced at all. That thin hope however gets him dragging his feet to the dock with Hope at his side pushing him slightly.

If they had stayed a while longer, they would have seen a shiny object floating closer to Shay. It´s a necklace, with a golden string and a big hexagonal crystal medal depicting a man offering something to the sun. The closer it gets to Shay, the more the Box, locked in a cabinet in Achilles` room, glows and booms. The medal brushes Shay´s ear and the Box activates, sending a massive blue shockwave that shatters every window of the Manor, shakes _The Morrigan_ and _The Gerfaut_ anchored in the dock, creates small waves that hit the rowboats and some of the rowing crew, blows the snow off the trees… and swallows Shay out of the water and out of presence, along with the necklace.

The nervousness is general in the five rowboats, where the men exchange astonished exclamations. Achilles, trying to calm the nerves of his men, notices that the upper floor of the Manor had been set ablaze and the flames threatening to expand to the lower floor.

"Continue with the search! We must find the Manuscript!", he spots Liam and Hope running to the Manor, buckets in their hands. "Take me back ashore, now!"

The rowers of the rowboat in question turn the boat around and heads back to shore.

The rest of the next half hour is spent containing the fire and then erasing it. Achilles` room had been the origin point of the fire, more specifically the blown up cabinet with the Box in it, leaving the division with burning furniture and destroyed maps, charts and portraits. The rest of the upper floor was dealt with accordingly and eventually the fires died.

The Box had been retrieved; however, it´s state had dropped an enormous weight on Achilles` heart. Besides partially blown up, lightning occasionally cracked there and there and shocked whoever held it, in simple words, unusable. Achilles` hadn´t even started swearing to the heavens when the research groups returned and informed that Shay and the Manuscript had vanished and that, with the snow storm picking up once more, they wouldn´t find anything that night.

Achilles takes in the reports in silence and then he looks up to the moon.

" _You did it Shay. I hope you´re happy now"_ , He scraps his teeth in anger.

* * *

The void of feeling is replaced with the sense of warm air and the comfort of a mattress on top of him. He has soft sheets over him, leaving his face uncovered. His eyelids press against each other, with the burden of many hours of rest weighting on them.

" _Why can´t anything go like planned?"_ , the pained Shay grunts to himself.

He refuses to open his eyes yet. Maybe he´ll die later if he waits long enough. Unlikely, he has to concede sadly, when he realizes his chest and back were bandaged and hence, treated. Things hadn´t gone according to what Shay had planned and now he´d live with that failure for the rest of his life.

What to do next? Keep a low profile and leave the colonies for sure, but where to then? His whole life had been on the colonies and the North Atlantic seas. He didn´t know London or what to do there. His French was miserable (on that he agreed with Chevalier), like his Spanish, therefore he could exclude France and Spain. As for Portugal, well…

Shay´s left with two choices: Either go to London and make a living by sailing on one of the Commercial Companies, a good reasonable life if he kept a low profile from the Templars controlling them, or sail to Lisbon and offer his services to help the city back up. The latter felt way more reassuring even if it was the capital of Templar operations in Portugal.

But first where was he?

Shay opens his eyes and sees a room different from the ones he had been before. Throwing the sheets to his right, he leaves the bed and evaluates his body´s condition. The wound beneath the bandages ached and a rib had broken on his left side, courtesy of a rock no doubt, but he could walk. Well, limp actually. He limped to the window to see the outside and was impressed to find only the vast ocean and the rocks below.

" _I´m in an island...Doesn´t bring any light on me. I know every island from the Manor to Fogo and I´ve never come here before"_ , Shay compares his geographical knowledge with the location and the surroundings.

In doing so he flexed his left arm and rolled his shoulder tensely, flaring up the pain on his left side. Shay winces faintly and bites his lower lip.

"Ah, you´ve woken up.", a male voice, along with the creaking of the door, startles Shay.

He turns around so quickly that the pain grows stronger and he nearly collapses to his knees. Hurried steps towards him echoed in the room and seconds later, a pair of hands steadies him. Straightening up, he studies the man´s features: Middle-aged if not fifty, bald, with a blue tattoo of an arrow going from the back of the head to the forehead, pointy black beard and mustache around the chin, gray eyes with a hint of blue, and an attire consisting in a yellow shirt and pants and a red cape large enough for his width and big enough to touch the floor.

" _Don´t tell me I washed ashore in a monk community!_ ", Shay exclaims post-analysis. One thing he had learned painfully is that religious communities were extremely boring to stay in.

"Go easy, young man. You´ve been ill for weeks now and it´s natural that you´re not fully recovered.", the monk recommends whilst leading him back to the bed.

"W-where am I?", Shay asks through a sharp breath. He sits in the bed as the man walks backwards to give him space.

"You´re in the Air Temple Island, home of the winged ring tail lemurs and the sky bisons. I´m Tenzin and I reside here with my family.", the man explained, hiding his hands in the large sleeves of his shirt.

"My name… is Shay Patrick Cormac.", Shay introduced himself holding out a hand. "Thank you. For saving my life, I mean."

"Pardon me, but did you say winged ring tail… lemurs… and sky what?", Shay repeats as Tenzin shakes the offered hand.

"Sky Bisons and yes I did say winged ring tail lemurs.", Tenzin confirmed, not holding back the pride. "It´s the only place where you can find them."

Shay stares blankly at Tenzin.

"Those are animals, right?", he blinks.

Tenzin´s eyebrows shoot up.

"Come now, surely you have heard of them.", he frowns.

"I haven´t sir. Might be animals that inhabit your island only and I´ve never been here before. That reminds me…", Shay tries to get up but Tenzin doesn´t allow that. "…is this in River Valley? Where´s the nearest settlement?"

Now it was Tenzin´s turn to look blankly at him.

"Are you jesting me?", He asks serious.

"No sir, I´m not. Although judging by your reaction I know I´m not.", Shay sighs.

A small uncomfortable silence falls between the two.

"So can you tell me more about this place?", Shay politely asks, half annoyed for being taken as a fool.

Tenzin agrees but requests Shay to wait for him while he´d find him suitable clothes. He leaves the room, non-repressed confusion twisted in his features, unnoticed by the more puzzled Shay. Left to wander the bedroom and face his inner conflicts, Shay gives it a complete search. He walks into a white adjacent room and finds it oddly weird, with the exception of the mirror on the wall.

Shay looks at himself in the mirror. His appearance had suffered a big chance since the last time he saw himself on the mirror. His normally long black hair had been cut and it was now only his pinky´s size; a cut near the chin had been stitched; the beard, that he liked to keep around his chin, had grown to cover his jaw in totality; checking his fingernails, he finds them cut; and most noticeable of all, he had a scar.

Every Assassin and smuggler doing business by Davenport Manor took pride in brandishing his or her scars to others just to show off. Acquiring a scar, especially like his own now, was considered respectful, the mark of a warrior and a challenge. Shay´s scar started by the right eyebrow, continued down over the right eye and stopped some inches away from it. He runs his fingers along the scar, disbelieving. A mental scar and a physical one to mark his failure, just what he needed. A growling sigh escapes his throat when he retreats his hands and grips the basin. An idea gains form in his brain and he latches on to it immediately. He looks at the basin and picks up a razor-blade. Twirling it in his hands to check it´s condition, he begins to shave the beard in steady moves, starting with his face and then moving to the neck.

When he concludes and the basin is filled with facial hairs, he takes in the fact that he looks like a new person and that the Shay persona that had attempted to commit suicide in Davenport had disappeared. And it sure does not look bad on him as well.

"Shay, are you in the bathroom?"

Tenzin.

"Just a moment.", Shay cleans his neck of any facial hair left and walks out of the bathroom.

He finds Tenzin by the door with a folded set of clothes on his hands and the air rifle wrapped in a white blanket on top of them.

"Unfortunately your clothes were torn and bloodstained. Besides Pema and Acolytes` best efforts they could not remove them or stitch them up. Yet, my wife has a good eye for sizes so I believe these should fit you nicely. Try them on.", Tenzin hands over the clothes to Shay and keeps the air rifle with him.

Retreating once more to the bathroom, Shay unfolds the clothes and looks separately at each one of them. There was a beige shirt of foreign design, a brown jacket with buttons, a high collar and pockets on the bottom, in each side, grey pants accompanied with the belt of his Assassin outfit and fingerless gloves. Shay liked that last detail.

"Did I have a book with me?", Shay asks as he picks up the shirt. It´s about time he worried with his belongings.

"Yes, you did. I´ve kept it in my study to hand it to you. Your weapons were delivered to the Police for protection but we´ve kept your strange long object.", Tenzin answers.

Shay peeks out of the bathroom.

"You gave my weapons to your Police?!"

"We didn´t know if you were a troublemaker or if you carried them for safety. We played safe. In time I will return them to you, rest assured.", Tenzin assures. He thought he noticed Shay´s eyes darken at the response but waves it off.

"Fine. Do rest assured, I don´t want any trouble with you or your family.", Shay puts on the pants and ties them with the belt. "For how long have I been under your care?"

"Today makes two months since you washed ashore and my children found you. You were burning up and evidently in need of medical care.", Tenzin explains, looking at the trigger of the air rifle. "We treated your wound but you have remained unconscious until now."

"I can´t thank you enough, sir.", Shay thanks while limping out of the bathroom.

"Much better than when we found you.", Tenzin commends looking Shay up and down.

Shay smiles faintly at the complement. His eyes drift to the air rifle in his caretaker´s hands.

"If I may, sir?", Shay asks nodding to the air rifle. Tenzin hands the rifle to Shay by holding it by the reloading mechanism. "This is an air rifle. Unlike the regular muskets the British and French use, this one makes no sound and fires darts instead of bullets."

Shay flips the rifle down to see if a dart would fall out. It didn´t and so Shay feels like he can´t demonstrate much without one.

"Who are the British and the French? What´s a musket? How did you get the scar? What´s your name?"

The voice surprises Shay again and launched another round of pain in his side. He looks at the source of the voice, a small boy smiling widely at him and wearing a super smaller size of Tenzin´s attire. His hair was shaven and his eyes were paler than Tenzin´s, leaving no doubt that the kid was Tenzin´s son.

"Meelo, go back to your bedroom please.", Tenzin scolds the boy.

"Sorry daddy, I heard you going to see the pirate and I wanted to meet him.", the boy, Meelo, has his smile grow wider. "What´s your name? Where do you come from?"

Shay takes a second to keep all the toddler´s questions in his mind.

"My name´s Shay Patrick Cormac and I´m from New York."

Meelo snorts.

"Your name is weird, Shay.", he comments.

"Is that so…? Meelo, right?", the boy nods. "Yours is weird too now that I think about it." Shay snorts at the boy, who sticks out his tongue to Shay after that. "Anyway, I´m sorry to tell you but I´m not a pirate. I´m a…", he stops to think of a good word to describe himself. "I´m a privateer."

"…Are you sure you´re not a pirate?", Meelo inquires.

"I´m privateer.", Shay corrects.

"But you walk around with a sword and a dagger, you have, wait, had a black beard and talk funny! You have to be a pirate!", Meelo pouts crestfallen.

Shay can´t help but laugh. He kneels to face the boy in a position that doesn´t sparkle any more pain.

"Aye, I do talk funny, blame it on my father. I might not be a pirate, but I do sail around in a big ship, looting the British´s vessels until they´re dry.", Shay rests a hand on Meelo´s shoulder. "My _Morrigan_ is the best Bret-O-War you can find in the Colonies, scout´s honor!"

The curious goofy expression returns to Meelo´s face. "Can I try your thing?", Meelo reaches out for the rifle but Shay draws it away.

"Maybe later, lad.", Shay playfully winks at the boy.

Shay´s stomach chooses the occasion to rumble loudly.

"Um… can I have something to eat?", he asks embarrassed to Tenzin.

"Come with me. Pema is sleeping with the kids and they should only come down later."

Shay rises and follows Tenzin to the kitchen located floors below the current one. Meelo accompanies them by asking a multitude of questions to Shay, to which the latter tries to answer as evasively as possible. Some catch his attention, like "Are you a firebender?" and "You´re a non-bender?". He is surprised to know that the kid has never heard of New York or even places like Halifax or Alabama, only of "Republic City", wherever the hell that place was, and that he didn´t know the Seven Years War had been going on. Even Tenzin joined the conversation at that point to hear more about it. Thinking they lived in an isolated community that by some miracle hadn´t had outside contact for God knows how many years, Shay´s feeling of misplacement increased. When they reached the kitchen, he asked for Meelo to find him a map and the boy ran off through the same way they entered.

Tenzin waits until Meelo is out of hearing range to openly express his opinion:

"I´ll be honest with you, Shay. You tell some stories that I´ve never heard one tell and the fact that you were armed with rudimental weapons like those makes me uneasy about your mental condition."

"I´m not mad or lying if that´s what´s on your mind.", Shay freezes and calmly counters. "I´m speaking the truth even if you don´t believe me."

"In that case answer me this question: How did you come by this?"

Tenzin´s right hand goes to a pocket in the pants and removes a crystal necklace with a golden string. Shay cocks his head to his side, unrecognizing the thing.

"I don´t know what that is, sir. All I remember is being shot at and falling off a cliff. Could have come in contact with the thing while I…"

Shay´s justification halts as his brain thinks more clearly. Davenport manor was far from River Valley, so there had been no way he could have ended up there, with or without snow storm. His argument is backed up by the fact that he would have had to be found by someone sailing in the night and brought him there, or otherwise he would have never survived the weather and/or the Assassins.

"You said you found me washed ashore. Are you sure no one brought me to your care?", Shay asks suspiciously.

"No, like I said, my children found you. There was no one with you and no identification. Now back to my question. How did you come about this?", Tenzin brings the conversation back on the original track.

"I´ve never seen that necklace before.", Shay repeats firmly, clearly annoyed.

Tenzin stares at him a bit longer before putting the necklace back in his pocket.

"This is the Spirit of Peace, an artifact from the time of Fire Lord Sozin that was recently stolen from the Museum. The thieves were on the run for a week until they were caught. Yet on the interrogatory they neither gave the whereabouts of the necklace nor which man hid it."

"And because you found me with it, you have reasons to suspect I had something to do with the theft.", Shay concludes sitting on the chair. "How can I clear my name?"

"For now you´ll rest here until your condition has improved. When I deem you up to it, we´ll find Lin Beifong, the Chief of Police, and you´ll give your accounts on the matter.", Tenzin prepares a cup with cereals, fetches a spoon and puts them on the table., "Now eat."

" _Escaping death to face another problem. Way to go, arsehole"_ , Shay grumbles.

Shay takes the spoon and tastes the breakfast. He likes it and, in hungry spoonfuls, he devours the cereals, drinking the milk when he´s finished. Tenzin makes him company while eating his own breakfast, often asking about Shay´s life. Shay, who had accepted that he´d have to tell the truth sooner or later, answered with a detailed tale of his life.

"And those cities, Haiti and Lisbon, are destroyed because your former colleagues don´t know what they are doing with those artifacts?", Tenzin leans forward to better hear Shay´s narration as he tells of the memorable 1st of November of 1755.

"Aye. I tried to make them see reason but they didn´t listen. Achilles might be the Mentor and his family might have died, but such level of madness was inexcusable. I had to do something.", Shay rubs his eyelids tiredly.

"The Assassins and Templars you speak of seem to be a danger to the populace. I shall inform Lin to keep an eye out for them.", Tenzin meditates over the reports.

"It takes more than just keeping an eye out, frankly. Assassins, like me… like I was, are trained to hide in plain sight and to never compromise the Brotherhood. Even if you can catch one, he´d rather be made a martyr than give away his secrets.", Shay enumerates the hard chances of finding one. "As for the Templars, those bastards are highly influent people, the sort you´d never think are involved in those businesses."

"Shay! I have the map!"

Meelo enters the kitchen at full speed with a rolled map on his hands and slides to a stop in front of Shay. Shay took the map in his hands as Tenzin told Meelo not to scream when his mother and siblings were sleeping. Unrolling it, Shay runs his eyes over it, immediately preoccupation seeping into them.

"Meelo, are you sure you brought me the right map?", he asks nervously without looking at the boy.

"Yep, it´s daddy´s special one.", Meelo confirms while sitting on a chair himself.

Shay swallows saliva, flabbergasted. The map didn´t have neither the continents he knew, nor the known symbols and names he had been used to work with. No Americas, no Europe, no Asia, no Africa, just a huge island painted in white, a set of volcanic islands to the left painted in red, an island in light blue on the top of the map and another on the opposite side of a darker blue, a thick lane by the north coast of the white island in dark gray and scattered mountainous mini-islands. He tries to read the huge characters that pinpoint the islands` names but he can´t, as they are in a different language.

"I can´t read anything in here. Would you mind translating these, please?", Shay requested Tenzin offering the map.

"You can´t read?", Meelo gasps with wide eyes.

"Well, I can, just not this language. Is it Chinese?", Shay takes a guess.

Tenzin nods and instead of taking the map, he goes around the table to be with Shay and Meelo.

"These are the Bending Countries and they consist on the North and South Poles, the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. Then there is the United Republic of Nations", Tenzin points to each country on the map. "Currently we are here, near its capital, Republic City. Where in this map can we find Lisbon and Haiti?"

"That´s just it. They´re not here. This map is different from mine!", Shay exclaims.

"What do you mean?", Tenzin cocks an eyebrow. "You´re not making sense now."

"Hang on. Have you kept my pouches?", Shay questions. Tenzin confirms. "Take me to them, please."

The adults and Meelo leave the kitchen, go up a flight of stairs, and enter a corridor. Walking (limping in Shay´s case) some meters ahead, they enter the fourth door to the left, to a room that Shay can only presume to be Tenzin´s study. He watches silently as Tenzin opens a drawer on a writing desk and removes his leather belt. Shay had crafted it on his way to Lisbon to spend the time while not sailing the ship himself, with the intention of having as much tools at his disposal as he could. It has four pouches: one for the Rope Darts, two for the ammunition and one where he kept the notes of assignments or a spare map for emergency. Like now for example.

"Open the one to the right.", Shay instructs.

Following the command, Tenzin takes out a yellow colored paper, folded to create a square the size of his hand, and as he unfolds it, he doesn´t keep the curiosity of his face.

"Now let´s see… Shay, was it you who drew this?", Tenzin looks at the map.

"I bought that map on New York on a brief stop there. As you can see it´s very different from yours.", Shay clarifies, running a hand on his hair. "Don´t take this the wrong way, but have you had any outside contact over the years?"

Tenzin completely ignores him. He removes the same necklace out of the same pocket, mumbles incoherent words incredulously with his back turned to Shay and then he brings Shay closer to him by the elbow.

"I may know how you came here."

"Do tell.", Shay´s own inquisitiveness peeks.

"The Spirit of Peace, while a beautiful piece of the time of the Fire Lords` reign, is also the center of a legend that goes back to the times of Avatar Roku. I´ll explain who he is later.", Tenzin adds at the sight of Shay´s frown.

»"The Spirit of Peace was crafted by a blacksmith two centuries ago, from crystal extracted from the Lovers` Cave and by using gold offered by a nobleman of the Earth Kingdom. It was the most beautiful piece of jewelry people had seen and news of it flew from mouth to mouth throughout the news of the existence of the necklace, made of such fine materials, caught the attention of an earthbender, a brutal thief of fierce reputation. Seeking to steal it, he attacked the village where he had last learned of its location single-handedly, looking to steal it and pillage the riches. Avatar Roku had been traveling close to the village and noticed the distress of a passing elder who related the assault on the village.

»Avatar Roku put a stop to his travel and headed to the village, where he battled the earthbender and won, expelling him from the Earth Kingdom, under the penalty of being killed if he stepped foot ever again there. In gratitude for his services, the villagers offered him the Spirit of Peace that Roku at first declined. After insisting however, and not to cause a scandal, he accepted it. When he put it on, he was engulfed in a bright light and he mysteriously vanished from sight. For a whole day no one saw him and the searches were fruitless, hence the assumption Roku had been taken to the Spirit World.

»The agitation was short lived, however, as at the next day´s dawn he returned, unharmed but looking different. Instead of the Fire Nation´s attire, he wore a metal armor over a white uniform with a hood, arm bands from where concealed blades were ejected, speaking a foreign language and claiming that it had been five years since he had left. Visibly sad, Roku resumed his journey over the Earth Nation, spending them writing in a journal his reflections over the journey he undertook.

»The villagers took that as a sign that he had traveled to the Spirit World through a method different from meditation, and from that day on, it was established that the necklace would pass from Avatar to Avatar as a symbol of status. When Roku died twenty years later, Raava, the spirit that merges with humans to give control over the four elements, was reincarnated in my father, Aang. He was trained to succeed in being the Avatar but fled the Air Benders community when he found out his destiny, not wanting to give up his old life with friends over a nomadic life.

»Fire Lord Sozin, that at the time controlled the Fire Nation with an iron hand, feared that the Avatar would stop his rule and invasion plans and ordered the extermination of the Air Benders. My father was the only survivor, having frozen himself below the water, and the Spirit of Peace was taken as a prize.

»The necklace never again gave passage to the Spirit World, neither to the Fire Lords, nor to anyone else. My father stopped Fire Lord Sozin`s grandson, Ozai, restored order and balance, and the recovery of the Nations began, which originated the creation of the United Republic of Nations. And on the course of the years, it never activated. On Republic City, sometime after my father´s passing, a Museum was built and over the many relics that were bought or acquired for exposition, Zuko, the son of Ozai and one of my father´s best friends, donated the necklace, where it stayed until the theft.

»Now we have your story that implies that the necklace activated and crossed dimensions for the first time in so long. You might have confirmed one of the oldest legends there is, Shay."

Shay opens and closes his mouth at least a dozen times. The many questions that his mind tried to hold on were just too unbelievably ridiculous.

"Do you think the necklace ´teleported´ to my world and brought me to ´your world´?" Shay decides to start slow. "That sounds loony."

"It´s a possibility. My father himself told me that on a conversation with Roku, he heard him reference about his adventure on a country called Italy, in a time far more advanced than his own. He claimed to have travelled to 1500 and worked alongside a man named Ezio Auditore along with his secret society of Assassins in overthrowing a powerful tyrant family, leaders of a Templar Order."

Shay does a double take on that.

"Ezio Auditore? You mean, THE Ezio Auditore, Mentor of the Italian Assassins from 1509 to 1512? The man is a legend as great as Altair! I worship the man!", he all but screams with an excited chuckle.

"Yes, that´s right. So you are from the same world as him but from another time. By the Spirits!", Tenzin gives the map to Shay. "If I may ask you this, could you tell me more about your home world?"

Shay´s grin splits his face in two.

"With pleasure. Will you join us Meelo?" He asks the small boy, who was looking at the two not understanding a thing.

"Yay! Story time!", the little man runs out of the study room.

With that said, the two left the study and returned to the kitchen, Shay already talking about the story of the Brotherhood.

"But wait. How did that Roku fellow return?", Shay interrupts his storytelling.

"No one knows how. Even Roku was clouded with doubts about that subject.", Tenzin says.

Shay gulps and slows down, zooming out of Tenzin´s questions.

" _I´m stuck here?"_


	2. Chapter 2

_**2 months later…**_

Shay is looking at a map of Air Temple Island, lent to him by Tenzin himself earlier at breakfast. He is hell-bent on exploring it and to get back in shape after his recovery. The pain from the fall had long taken a walk and Shay now moved more naturally, allowing him to jog from the docks to the Temple, but in his opinion he had to get back to his basic training. As he looked intently to the map, he figured that the only good place to practice would be in the small forest overlooking the Airbending Training Area.

Thinking about what he would do already sends anxiety to his heart, and a thin smile covered his face. What Shay really needed was to let go of his surroundings for a few minutes and go to higher ground. Of course he would never do it on the Temple itself, it would be disrespectful to his hosts. Shay folds the map and tucks it in a breast pocket of his red short-sleeved shirt, raises his knees as high as he can, feeling the black fabric of his tracksuit pants and muscles stretching, and goes over a few warm-up exercises, such as push-ups and stretches. Some of the men and women passing by took a few minutes to watch him getting ready before carrying out their duties. Once he begins to feel his muscles ache slightly he rolls his shoulders and cracks his neck with a relieved sigh. Then he breaks into a sprint over to one of the trees, three times higher than him and roots favorable to begin ascension.

"Shay!"

Hearing his name being called, Shay slides to a stop, looking behind to see Meelo running towards him followed closely by his two sisters, all three smiling when they spot him. Shay waves at them with a smile on his face and jogs over to them. Being the one ahead of the others, Meelo reaches his friend first.

"What are you doing?", Meelo asks curiously.

"Well, I was getting ready to do some tree-climbing. About time I got back into shape the way I see it.", Shay answers, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his tracksuit pants.

"Tree-climbing?", a girl with two buns on the sides of the head, dressed in the same uniform as her siblings and father, questions as she hops to the two. "You can climb trees? Where did you learn to do it? Can we see?"

"Don´t see why not, Ikki.", he says without much debating. "In fact, I think you can keep up with me in your… air… thingies?"

"Air scooters!", Meelo yells excitedly.

"That.", Shay nods, the name coming back to his head.

"Is it interesting?", the older sibling, Jinora, asks Shay. Being taller and with only a bun on the right side of her head, she could reach Shay´s belly height and not crane her neck until it hurt.

"I like to think so. It helps to take my mind off things.", Shay nods. The anticipation makes a comeback that gets Shay excited again. "Now if you´ll excuse me…"

Without giving time for the kids to tell him to wait or anything else, Shay spins around and sprints towards the tree he wanted to climb. When he is so close to it one would think he wanted to ram into it, he lifts his right leg and uses it to touch the trunk and leap upwards, using the left leg to launch himself further up and the right hand to grab a protrusion in the bark. From there he uses the branches spread randomly around the trunk to reach the treetop. When he reaches the highest, seemingly sturdy branch of the tree, Shay searches for the next route and decided to take to the left, to a tree with thick branches that delved deeper into the forest. He casts a look back when he feels wind hitting him in the back and he isn´t surprised to see the kids in their Air Scooters fly past him in giggles.

"Catch us if you can!", Ikki shouts at him in challenge.

Shay grins. He jumps to the branch of the next tree and charges after them, determined to win against the brats. He swings, jumps, leaps, goes lower, climbs higher and maneuvers his way through the dark green forest and in a few minutes he had spotted the kids. As soon as they see their adversary they had increase speed, laughing away from him. Shay picks up speed as well and loses focus of everything else that wasn´t related to catching up to them. The sweat began to form in his face eventually, later appearing in his armpits and staining his collar, tugging his clothes to his body. Time flies as Shay reaches the kids once more without them noticing it. Doubling his efforts, he manages to get right above them before leaping over them and land in front of them, rolling so he can disperse momentum, stunning the three kids and making them stop.

"I win.", Shay pants as he spins around with arms spread open.

"That was lucky! I´ll beat you next time!", Meelo protests with a scowl, waving his arms like a madman.

"I doubt that runt. After all, I make my own luck.", Shay scoofs. Secretly he hopes to do another race against the kids.

"That was cool! Will you show me your moves one day?", Meelo asks.

"And me too?", Jinora joins in, although with a controlled expression and a smile.

"Me three?", Ikki, on the other hand, joins in with puppy eyes.

Shay tilts his head and chuckles humorously.

"We´ll see what your father has to say about that. Can´t have you lot doing something behind his back now, can I?", Shay says. "How about we race there? Whoever gets in first gets to tell him the news."

"Yeah!", is the unanimous results.

The kids jump on the spot and create Air Scooters to double back the way they came, ignoring the indignant shout of Shay as they sent dirt to him. An incredulous Shay stays still in confusion for a second and covered in dirt before he too sprints after the kids for the second time that day.

" _Should have told them they couldn´t use those blasted things!"_ , he scolds himself inwardly.

"… and then we saw a shadow above us and Shay came down like THUM!", Meelo finishes telling his father what happened, dramatically stomping the floor.

The door to the Temple opens and Shay comes into view, panting tremendously, out-of-breath, sweaty and almost on his knees. He wipes sweat off his forehead (which unfortunately is replaced with more sweat) and tries to speak.

"So… which one of…?", that´s the most he can bring himself to say.

"I did, Shay!", Ikki exclaims, facing him.

"No, I did!", Meelo interjects, pointing a thumb to his chest.

"Did not!", Ikki denies, facing him instead.

"Yes I did!", Meelo stubbornly exclaims, getting in his sister´s face.

"Now, now, kids, there´s no need to fight over who got here first.", Tenzin kneels and gently pulls them away from each other. "Your mother is looking for you, she has some interesting news to tell you. She´s in the Greenhouse, go on."

The kids look at their father intently and then run out of the Temple to meet their mother, but not before throwing a little tease at Shay for reaching last place. It´s just Tenzin and Shay now.

"I see they have made you run a marathon.", Tenzin finally takes the time to examine Shay with a thin amused expression.

"You don´t say.", Shay responds with sarcasm. "May I come in?"

"Why, of course. Don´t stand there in the wind, come in. I´ll get a towel.", Tenzin sends Shay in, leaving afterwards to find something to give Shay.

Shay goes inside, closing the door behind him and sits down by the table, fanning out to create breezes to help him cool down and wiping more sweat from his forehead. That little exercise had proved what he had feared: he was REALLY out of shape and he had to get back in it SOON. The Assassins would have snickered if they could see him now, Chevalier, Hope and Liam more so than the others. Sensing his mind drifting to his former friends, Shay immediately stops imagining them.

He wanted to remember them as less as possible, even if every time he had been on top of the trees he had listened to Kesegowasee´s lessons, every time he heard Tenzin giving him lessons of the Air Nomads he recalled Achilles lecturing, or every time he looked at little Meelo he thought of a more carefree Liam. Those were paths he wished to never have to tell anybody. For a brief moment he thought that the whole island was just an imitation of Davenport Manor but then he had to bang his head on the table.

" _Shut up! This is NOT Davenport Manor! This is a peaceful place filled with animals out of a novelist´s mind. Get over that fact!"_ , Shay chastises himself.

To get himself thinking over other things, Shay gets up, aching legs protesting and stands over a window, looking out to the metropolis away from the island. Republic City. It was far, far different from New York. It made him feel homesick for the troubling city. For starters it was as beautiful as the developing metropolis of the Colonies. Then was the fact had it seemed too crowded. Sure, New York was greatly populated by immigrants and naturals, but Republic City could harbor as many citizens as the New World´s metropolis, perhaps more, if one would take the size in account. In the daytime the buildings tried to reach the sky, at night it was the bright lights.

Shay had pretty much the basics of the city covered up, like how and when it was founded, who ran the city and what you could find in the city. That had been by far the greatest advantage of befriending Jinora, and telling her stories of deeds in River Valley and the stories he had heard in the taverns. Shay had been introduced to her and the rest of Tenzin´s family on the same day he had woken up and stroke friendship with them all. Over the course of that month, Shay particularly grew to enjoy Meelo´s company, with his childish innocence, and Ikki`s too, with her mind of a stubborn non-stop questioning Assassin novice. The little seven years old girl was far more hyperactive and faster than her siblings, a trait that made her difficult to catch when Shay took the time to play Tag with them.

And he can´t forget Pema, the kind-hearted mother of the three and Tenzin´s wife, who instilled love and compassion as quick as Shay plunging a Hidden Blade on a soldier´s neck (although she was a bit quick to get in a cranky mood recently). In her, Shay would find a more quiet company, a good storyteller and, even if she didn´t share his opinion, a counselor. He had found out that she was quite perceptive too, as she had figured out that the constant meals of vegetables had been making Shay hunger for meat (only an idiot wouldn´t have noticed him eyeing the lemurs with craving).

The family had done a lot for Shay, aside from nursing him back to health: They had taught him how to understand the basics of writing in their language, how to read it, the money currency, the important bits of history of the Bending Countries, and how to get around the evidently more technologically advanced world. Howeve,r he hadn´t stepped foot outside the island yet. He was meaning to ask Tenzin to go with him the next time he´d be heading to the city.

He had also met Lin Beifong, the Police Chief of Republic City, when he still wore bandages over his wounds. A week or so after waking up, Lin had arranged the time to travel to the Temple in order to retrieve the Spirit of Peace and take it back to the Museum. She had seemed like a woman whom you should always approach with respect, resembling Hope in a small way. She had iron-colored hair and pale green eyes, double scars in thin lines on her from the right side of the jaw up to her cheek, and wore black metal armor over her uniform to indicate her status as the Chief of Police. He had figured out that she and Tenzin had been friends for a long time given the way they behaved with each other, even if she had been on duty, and he had gotten considerably along with her. Shay had answered her questions as detailed as he could have been, which at first she had been skeptical about. After Tenzin had explained where he had come from, she had been less reluctant to accept the truth (but not by much). Shay inclusively had asked when he could have had his weapons returned to him, to which Beifong had been downright set in denying him them. It had taken a lot of convincing and a hour and a half for Lin to tell Shay that while his sword and dagger would have had to remain locked-up, she could allow the Hidden Blades to be returned to his possession.

" _But listen closely, Mr. Cormac. If I hear that you have used those blades to harm anyone or if you´re arrested for using them in an illegal activity, I will make sure that you will see them again beyond repair. Understood?",_ Beifong had warned him. Used to deal with authorities, Shay had obediently nodded.

As far as he could think, he wouldn´t use them for anything bad. But because there could come a time when he´d have to protect himself or possibly one of the kids, he wants to have some means of attacking an aggressor, and nothing was more discreet than a pair of Hidden Blades.

"Here."

Shay snaps out of his thoughts and turns around to see Tenzin holding out a white towel. Thanking with a nod, he proceeds to clean his armpits.

"Master Tenzin, while I was doing a little workout the kids asked me if I could teach them how to freerun on the trees.", Shay begins.

"According to the children you have beaten them in a race while navigating through the trees. They were very impressed.", Tenzin stated, showing he already knew of Shay´s exercises.

"Aye, they told me that. They asked me to show them how to do it but I told them I had to get your approval.", Shay continued while cleaning his neck. "Do you mind?"

"… I´m not sure Shay. Accidents could happen and I don´t want to see them injured.", Tenzin shakes his head.

"As you say, Master Tenzin. It´s your call.", Shay nods, a bit disappointed deep down. It would have been fun to teach the runts how to maneuver in the trees without using Airbending.

"Shay, I´ve told you many times, you can call me Tenzin.", The Air Nomad sighed. It was a habit that he understood as one of respect, but he believed that there was no need for that anymore.

"Whatever you say, Master Tenzin.", Shay grinned. He also understood his host saw the treatment as one of respect and that they got along well enough to be informal with each other. But as long as Shay would be staying under his roof, he´d treat him formally. End of story.

Tenzin gives up with another sigh and instead sits down. Shay does the same.

"I´ve stopped by the Police Headquarters today and you will be happy to know that I´ve managed to retrieve your Hidden Blades. Lin was still reluctant to entrust them to you, so allow me to remind you of your promise to her.", Tenzin informs, retrieving two bracers from behind his back.

Shay drops the towel and, keeping the relief inside him, he takes them in his hands, looking briefly at his old companions, and puts them on. The slight addiction of weight is welcomed and Shay extends and retracts the concealed blades to hear them working. They were still sharp and there was no damage in them.

"Thank you sir.", Shay smiles despite his control. "I owe you big time."

"No Shay, you do not. You are a guest to us and we are more than welcome to accept you.", Tenzin dismisses the gratitude. They were Air Nomads and Air Nomads always help those in need. And even if they weren´t, they´d still aid him.

"That may be sir but… you saved my life. Gave a second chance.", Shay´s smile dies and he looks away to concentrate on a pillar. Where would he be if he hadn´t been saved by the monk family?

"I do believe that there is also the Spirit of Peace to be thanked. After all, you finding it was what brought you to us.", Tenzin declared, attempting to lighten up the mood.

"More like the other way ´round actually.", Shay looks at Tenzin again. But if it wasn´t for the necklace he would have been captured again or left frozen in the waters. "Where is that necklace now?"

"In Aang Memorial Island, back where it should have been to begin with.", Tenzin told him, having heard the report directly from Lin.

"And you are not worried some other genius can steal it again?", Shay questions. It was stolen once and that proved it could be done again.

"Relax Shay. The museum has hired more security guards and increased security measures. There isn´t a remote chance of anyone succeeding ever again.", Tenzin reassures the Irishman.

Somehow Shay believes that it would be possible. He had done his fair share of looting to know that even highly secured establishments could be broken into more than twice, all it took was blueprints, expertise and planning. Sometimes over the last two months he felt glad he had learned something from the Assassins.

"Oh spirits, how could I forget!", Tenzin exclaims, breaking Shay´s inner thinking. "I haven´t told you the big news. Pema is pregnant! We have a new baby coming!"

"Congratulations Master Tenzin.", Shay´s surprised expression dissolves to form a happy face. He gets up, goes around the table and pats the man in the back. "Any idea if it will be a boy or a girl?"

"No, Pema has told me she´s pregnant of only a month. But whatever the case, he or she will be welcomed into our family with open arms. I hope it is another Airbender.", Tenzin confides with Shay. If Shay looked closely enough he could see his eyes shining.

Shay laughs at the man´s expectations but in his mind he questions if it would be healthy for Pema to have another Airbender. Three kids were troublesome enough as he had already witnessed, but children who could send strong bursts of wind at you must be even more complicated. And Pema could lose her temper under too much pressure.

"Do the kids know already?"

"That was why I sent them to their mother. They must be thrilled as we speak.", Tenzin says.

As if a magnet had attracted them back to the Temple, the doors open and the kids, accompanied by Pema, enter the room and go to their father to bombard him with questions. Shay leaps away just in time to avoid an out-of-balance Tenzin to fall over his feet with the runts on top of him and goes over to Pema.

"So, ready for the challenge?", Shay asks.

"Yes. I do hope that it will be a Non-Bender.", Pema says happily, rubbing her belly.

And Shay laughs loudly at the last sentence. Who would have thought that he could understand a fellow Non-Bender so easily?

The following day, after lunch with Airbending family and the Air Acolytes, Shay rests in his quarters in the men´s dormitories with two books open on his lap and a pencil twirling in his right hand.

Shay whistles at the sound of a jazz tune playing on the radio in the desk next to the bed where he sits. To him, aside from showers, the so-called Satomobiles and the telephones, it was one of the best technological advances that world had to offer. Why bother going to a tavern to hear the same array of songs when you could stay in your room and listen as the bands played this more upbeat type of musics? He recalls how he had been so fascinated when he had first seen the wooden box with two metal buttons that made a man start singing. Pema had told him to take it to his room and enjoy as long as he wanted. Half a day later and the family had found him still listening to the radio, whistling at the sound of _When The Girl Met The Badgermole._ Right nowthere was another song being broadcasted, _Beautiful Love_ , and Shay is nearly distracted from his hobby because of it.

He had offered to record his experiences and history of his world in a book with hard cover and a Chinese letter for a word he would have to ask someone about. Shay hasn´t even filled the first ten pages, merely since he had no interest in completing that task so early. And there are numerous things to talk about. How could he even write about the First Civilization if he didn´t know much about the Precursor race? All he had ever learned was that they had been there on Earth before, Adam and Eve were connected somehow, and that they had simply vanished. It wasn´t much. And then write about the whole history of the conflict of Assassins and Templars was something not even he knew in full detail. Perhaps he could write about another subject.

" _Sailing_.", a part of Shay´s mind whispers.

Yeah, that could do!

Blocking out the news broadcaster that interrupted the song to bring a news update on some small scale battle between the Triads and the Police, Shay spends the time scribbling dozens and dozens of notes about sailing techniques, types of ships from the Schooner to the Leviathan, naval charts meticulously hand-drawn and a simplified drawing and description of _The Morrigan._ He feels his eyes getting somewhat watery. He wouldn´t miss the Assassins, but he´d sure miss his precious _Morrigan_ : the rough feeling of her helm in his hands, the way the sails curved when the wind was in their favor, the sound of her cannons when they fired and the cheers of the crew when they were used…

That reminds him: What would he do from there on? Stranded in a world that was scientifically more evolved and different than his own, he felt like he should travel around the parallel Earth, just like... _Stop_. But how to do that? Perhaps he could join the navy. He had seen the boats arrive and depart from the docks, massive and completely made of iron, capable of overpowering the Royal Navy in a few minutes. Very different from the ones he is used to know intimately. But he could adapt to that by studying beforehand and then joining the navy. It would take a few months worth of memorizing, and he´s never been the guy who closes in his study to devour books (to his credit, he reads a novel once in a while), but in the long run it would compensate.

Storing the idea in the back of his mind, Shay closes the book for now and shuts off the radio. Raising and yawning, he walks out of his room and leaves the Men´s Dormitory to go outside. The sun shines brightly in the sky, casting the buildings´ shadows over him, so Shay can´t complain about the heat as he notices Tenzin and the kids by a strange contraption composed of gates with the symbols of the Air Element. The gates were spinning at high speeds and the kids apparently are going to have to cross them.

" _Is that even possible?_ ", Shay wonders to himself. " _C´mon Shay, you´re living with monks skilled in commanding the air. Of course they can do it._ ", another voice answers his question.

Silently he agrees with the logic and walks to the family, bit by bit picking up bits of the conversation the three are having.

"…training.", Tenzin says to Meelo, impatience twisted in his face.

"…the same… daddy. Can we go…", Meelo asks the elder Nomad.

"No. And it´s because it´s the same that you will be able to make it without even trying. Now, just like we practiced.", Tenzin asks his son before turning to the gates.

Shay walks faster to be able to see the demonstration better. He catches Tenzin taking three steps forward before assuming a stance and disappearing inside the gates. From there he has difficulty keeping an eye on Tenzin, whose yellow and red form keeps traveling through the non-stop spinning old gates with obvious ease and mastery. Never stopping spinning with the flow of the gates, changing directions when necessary, he exits the gates from the opposite side with a roll and resuming the initial stance.

" _I´ll be damned_.", Shay´s amazed by the technique of the elder Nomad. "How in God´s name did you do that?"

Tenzin turns at the new voice and adjusts his cape.

"As a child I had weeks of training with my father. The rotating gates have been used by Airbenders since ageless times to teach pupils the fundamental principles of Airbending: To be the leaf that flows with the wind without need to force its way through.", Tenzin explains. To emphasize the point, he takes a leaf on the ground and using a small gust of wind, he throws it at the still-spinning gates. The leaf vanishes and reappears on the right, untouched.

"Blimey. That could have come in handy.", Shay muses. Countless times had he been faced with opponents or infrastructures that had delayed him. Had he known… wait…

"Wanna try Shay?", Ikki asks the distracted man, after sneaking up on Shay and jumping to his back.

"Ikki, Shay can´t use the gates yet.", Jinora butts in, having come closer to the three. "Shay has to learn the stance and the basic moves of an Airbender before trying."

"I can do that?", Shay asks the girl. He thought that only Airbenders had the privilege of doing that. He starts seeing himself doing those movements and applying them in tricky situations. So helpful!

"Anyone can. The Air Acolytes aren´t Airbenders as well, but they carry on their teachings, culture and teachings. You can join them if you wish.", Tenzin explains, pointing to a member far away from them by the Temple.

Shay looks at said member walking from the Men´s Dormitory to the Temple, muttering to himself. The shaved man in yellow robes with a red sash notices the four looking at him and waves with a gentle smile before entering the Temple. Shay ponders on the opportunity and…

"Any chance I can learn without having to join them?", he asks the four.

The family looks at him in disbelief and stunned silence. They exchange surprised looks before Tenzin calmly explains, "To know the Air Nomads ways without actually being an Acolyte is unheard of and if word gets out that you are one such case, the whole meaning of an Air Acolyte will be questioned. I´m afraid you either become an member or we cannot teach you."

"Ah I see.", it´s all Shay can say. The monk´s way of life wasn´t appealing to him (vegetables for eternity, shaving head *shivers*) and he already had the idea of joining the navy. "Then I´ll have to decline."

"That´s alright. It´s your call.", Tenzin tells him. Shay gets the feeling he had used the same words he had used the previous day on purpose. "Now kids, I want you to get to work. Let´s go."

The kids get to work one by one by lining up and taking a turn each. Shay decides to walk away with Tenzin.

"It´s a shame really. I believe you could have been a good Air Acolyte.", his companion comments, stroking his pointy beard.

"Being a monk isn´t my call, Master Tenzin.", Shay confesses. He stuffs his hands in the pockets of his pants before remembering something. "Master Tenzin, I was thinking about going to Republic City sometime soon, to get to know it and explore it. And I was wondering if I couldn´t come with you the next time you go there."

Tenzin stops to look at Shay. "I must warn you Shay, I go to the city mainly to attend to my Councilman duties. We might not have much time to stroll about."

"Does it still mean I can go with you? If it isn´t a bother, of course?", Shay rapidly adds. He hated to impose himself as a priority.

"No, do not worry. Well, with any luck, in two days time I can show you around.", Tenzin assures.

To this Shay chuckles. "One thing you should know about me, Master Tenzin: I make my own luck.", he tells the man with a humored tone.

Tenzin blinks as Shay´s motto goes over his ears. "if you believe so, I won´t stop you."

"Then it´s a deal.", Shay smiles, sticking out a hand to shake.

"It is.", Tenzin smiles softly and shakes the hand.

…

… _?_

" _What´s happening?"_

 _In a black void with no sign of life, Shay seemingly floats with no clue as to where he is._

" _ **You wished to see me?**_ _"_

 _Shay looks behind his shoulder to see no one._

" _Show yourself.", he demands as he flicks his wrist. But there´s no sound of metal and Shay checks to see the Hidden Blades weren´t strapped to his wrists._

" _ **I´m here.**_ _", the voice, neither male nor female, but rather dark, indicates._

 _Shay looks around, yet he still sees no one._

" _ **Oh, do forgive me. I tend to forget that the only reason why Roku could see was because he was the Avatar.**_ _", the voice says apologetically. "_ _ **Would you kindly close your eyes?**_ _"_

" _And why should I do what you say?", Shay asks suspiciously._

" _ **You are dreaming. What harm could I possibly do in a dream?**_ _", the voice tells him._

 _Wait. That´s right. He remembers going to bed. Should he trust his own dreams however? He decides to. He closes his eyes and his eyes seemed to gain some weight of their own._

" _ **And… done! Open them.**_ _", the voice chirps._

 _Shay does so quickly to be able to see what that was all about. And he´s shocked to find himself hovering inside his quarters inside the Morrigan. They are just as he had left them prior to his journey to Lisbon, untidy and with a single bed laid by his right, yet it´s colored a grayish-blue on the contrary to the dark. A lantern set on the floor gives out a white light._

" _I must be getting homesick. Aye, must be.", Shay wonders._

 _He takes a step only to find that he can´t._

" _Right, hovering.", Shay sighs._

" _ **Use the power of your mind.**_ _", the ownerless voice, less distorted, advises._

 _Shay raises an eyebrow in confusion but tries anyway. He thinks of himself moving and he manages to hover forward. He reaches the door and opens it, which results in being blinded by strong light._

" _ **Shame. Seems like we don´t have much time. Well, visit me whenever you want to, Non-Bender, and make good use of your gift.**_ _", the voice states with a hint of sadness. "_ _ **Farewell**_ _."_

* * *

 _Rate, Review and Enjoy.  
_

 _Check out my other stories on my Author´s Page. See ya later!_


	3. Chapter 3

"Shay, wake up!"

Said sleeping man jolts awake and sits up straight, the right hand shooting to his intruder´s collar and the left hand drawn back to punch. But he reins his arm when he realizes that it would result in punching a scared bald kid with a look of shock.

"Oh god, I´m so sorry Meelo.", Shay immediately apologizes, releasing the boy, who backs away. "It´s a habit that I still have."

Meelo looks at Shay less fearful of an impending attack and approaches him.

"Shay, daddy says you need to be ready quickly so you can go with him to Republic City. Why are you going there?", Meelo tells the sleepy man.

Shay snaps his head at Meelo and then to a small clock on his desk. It marked 8 hours in the morning. Throwing his blankets aside and sliding out of the bed in a single movement, he forgets Meelo´s presence and goes to his wardrobe to find clothes. He requests that Meelo goes back to his father´s side and tell him that he´d be out and fresh in less than five minutes and Meelo gives a salute that Shay can´t see, because he isn´t facing Meelo, and runs out of the room. That leaves Shay alone to take out the red shirt he had first worn when he had woken up in the island and the grey pants from his first day and throw them to his bed. He runs to the bathroom to wash the last bits of sleep of his face and comb his hair, which had grown more after two months, and bolts out it to hurriedly put his clothes on. After the shirt is on and Shay inserts a leg in the pants, he jumps on one leg to the wardrobe and get his fingerless gloves. The pants and gloves on, he opens the lowest drawer on the wardrobe and takes out the Hidden Blades, pulls back his sleeves and straps the weapons on, pulling the sleeves back down to conceal them. He goes for the door but slides to a stop before getting the jacket and his boots, feeling like a jackass for forgetting about them.

Deeming himself ready after a check-up, he leaves his room and runs out of the Men´s Dormitory to the Dining, expecting to find Tenzin in there having breakfast with the rest of his family and Air Acolytes. When he peeks on the door he can only find Pema and the kids eating while chatting. Pema is the first to notice Shay´s head over the door and waves him in.

"I can´t stay, Pema. I have to leave with Tenzin to Republic City.", Shay informs her.

"Oh I know you do. But we can´t let you go without breakfast.", Pema insists, motioning an empty place between Ikki and her with a bowl of cereals waiting to be eaten.

Shay doesn´t hesitate to take the offered seat and eat his cereals so fast that the family can´t make out the spoon as it leaves and enters the hurried Irishman´s mouth. After he swallows the milk that had remained in the bowl, Shay rises, thanks for the meal, and runs out the door, not giving time for any of them to say goodbye to him. Shay runs all the way to the docks, startling a bunch of flying lemurs resting among the way, and finds his guide waiting for the ferry, a boat with two red sails the size of a schooner, that is almost docking. Tenzin hears running footsteps behind him and turns around to see Shay running towards him. Well that meant Meelo had relayed the message…

"Sorry, Master Tenzin. I overslept.", Shay apologizes, a bit tired after running.

"That´s quite alright. The ferry has orders not to leave until I embark so I could have waited a while longer. Are you ready?", Tenzin says, walking over the craft board after it´s placed.

"Yes sir. Let´s go meet the city.", Shay affirms. He´s glad he´s not as tired as he had been after the race with the kids.

After the two men embark and the ferryman starts to turn around to head back to the city, Shay leans over the rail to watch his reflection in the water with Tenzin by his side.

"Now then, first of all I need to stop by the City Hall to discuss measures against the growing tensions. I do not know how long it will take, so I will leave you in the care of a guide to show you around. We shall meet back here at lunchtime to return home. Any questions?", Tenzin informs.

"Is the meeting because of those «Equalists» fellows?", Shay asks. He had heard the news last night before going to sleep, so he was curious as to who they were.

"Yes. According to sources from the police and the streets, a group of people are spreading the word that Benders are a danger to the world and that that has to end. For now there have only been minor disturbances like manifestations in parks or propaganda, but the people joining the movement are increasing. We have to discuss what we´ll have to do to deal with the situation.", Tenzin nods.

"If I may suggest something? In times like those you´ll want to have someone who can report to you about any sudden raises in protests or big moves, a mole so to speak. If these Equalists want Benders gone, send a Non-bender out there to collect information.", Shay suggests, his planning skills in motion.

There is a moment of reflection on these words until Tenzin says, "That sounds like a great idea. I´ll be sure to propose it to the Council. Do you have more ideas?"

"Well, I suppose that while we´re still on the subject of moles, you can send some people out on the streets to keep an ear open for rumors. Disguised as sellers, merchants, sailors, they might be able to catch a fish worth sinking teeth in.", Shay adds.

"Yes, it could be done. Thank you Shay, you might have avoided a complicated session today.", Tenzin smiles.

Shay gives in a small smile before returning his attention to his reflection on the water. His head is still processing the surreal dream he had had, IF it had been a dream. Normally in dreams you wouldn´t get the feeling that someone is physically with you, yet that had been what he had felt, like you were sharing it. He couldn´t identified the owner due to the distorted sound but he could bet the _Morrigan_ on it being his conscious playing tricks. What he can know for sure is that the dream had caused his eyes to get heavier than normal. He shook his head to clear the sensation away.

The distracted Shay doesn´t notice the city coming closer and closer to them until Tenzin taps him on the shoulder and saying that they had finally arrived. Putting aside his worries, Shay returns to reality and examines the port. There were several boats in front of him, harboring bigger sizes of the ferry he was in, shipping boats and one huge military boat of the United Republic Forces, and each one with sailors and businessmen chatting and men of authority patrolling the docks. The buildings in front of the ferry were as high as the churches in New York and could house about a whole squadron of redcoats and supplies. Looking to his left, he sees a large bridge standing on two pillars, connecting that side of the city to another. Horseless carriages (" _The Satomobiles, huh?"_ , he realizes) drive in and out of the street, with multiple designs and colors and yet all oriental looking. A particular black one is parked by the side of the docks and its driver is standing by the front of the Satomobile, checking a pocket watch distractedly. Tenzin puts a hand in Shay´s back and directs him to that man.

"That man over there will be your guide. His name is Ming Zhao and he knows the city like the back of his hand. A word of advice though: do NOT under any circumstances mention the Terra Triads. He doesn´t have fond memories of them", The Air Nomad warns, walking with Shay to Ming Zhao. "Also, I´m giving you this." Tenzin removes from a pocket a wallet and hands it to Shay. "You have in there ten yuans. Buy something for yourself."

"Duly noted. And you? How are you getting to the City Hall?", Shay asks.

"I will be accompanying you to your first stop, which is exactly City Hall. After I´m dropped off… meaning ´once I´m delivered´…", Tenzin explains when Shay frowns at the unfamiliar expression "you and Ming will have the whole morning to get to know Republic City. Good morning Ming Zhao."

The man glances at the caller, annoyance mixed with recognition in his eyes, puts the pocket watch in a pocket and bows to Tenzin, who bows back. Ming Zhao is a man in his forties, lean, wearing a green coat buttoned up, dark brown pants. The boots he wore told Shay they had been used more than often. His face is clean, with a few lines by the cheekbones, and with a long thin and pointy mustache that fell down, so far the most ridiculous Shay had ever had the pleasure to find. His dark hair is pulled back by a ponytail.

"Ming, allow me to introduce Shay Cormac, a guest in Air Temple Island.", Tenzin introduces the man to Shay.

Shay approaches Ming and extends a hand to shake, which is shaken almost mechanically. Going by the way his hand had been shaken, Shay knew Ming was a strong man.

"Ming Zhao, at your disposal.", Ming greets.

"Pleasure to meet you, sir.", Shay greets back. "Shall we be going?"

"Eager to start, I see. I take it this is the first time you have come to Republic City?", Ming deduces as he opens the back doors of the Satomobile.

"It is. I´ve come to know what a Non-Bender can do to make a living in here.", Shay confirms, slipping inside the vehicle.

Of course that was not the truth. Shay and Tenzin had come up with a false background story, in case some noisy citizen or policeman ever asked for his life story. Shay would be a man born to Non-Benders from the Fire Nation, who had grown up to join his father in sailing when he was 18 until the latter died in a storm a year ago. He would tell people he and his mom had gone through troubled times to keep living without his father´s support and that he had decided to go to Republic City and make money, just the necessary to return and live better with his mom. Shay was grateful for once that his childhood had come in handy now, since the cover-up was based on his younger years.

Ming seems to believe the lie and lets Tenzin in before closing the door and going to the driver´s seat.

"City Hall, then?", he asks, looking to the two passengers from the rearview mirror.

"Yes Ming, and please be quick.", Tenzin nods.

Without any words of acknowledgement, Ming starts the Satomobile and drives out of the docks and into the full streets. As the people pass by in multicolor blurs, Shay chats with Tenzin about his choice of joining the United Forces` Navy and who to talk with about that. Tenzin explains him that to be a part of the United Forces, he would first need to get references such as recommendation letters to certify for his capability and after he got those papers, he´d need to go talk to a Recruitment Manager. If everyone was in order, he´d commence the new job without bumps. Shay makes sure to absorb every detail of the older man´s notes, finding the procedure no different than joining the Royal Navy, except for the fact that the recommendation letters had to be of captains with important names. As the conversation dragged on, the Satomobile stopped by a sidewalk to leave Tenzin in the City Hall. With final wishes of a good tour, the Councilman and the Non-Benders parted ways.

"Where are we going first?", Shay asks.

"Is there any place in special to wish to visit first?", Ming asks, slowing down the Satomobile on a crossroad.

"No I don´t.", Shay answers, almost distracted.

"In that case, we will start with the Pro-Bending Arena.", Ming declares, turning the car to the left.

Shay already knows what is Pro-Bending and how it´s played, but he had had to find out behind his host´s back. He understood that Tenzin forbid listening to the matches and called the sport "a mockery of the noble Bending arts" seeing as he was a practitioner of calm and peaceful Bender, yet that had not meant Shay would have let it stop him. He took an interest after he heard his first match a month ago in the middle of the night and as quietly as he could and ever since he had asked for a newspaper everyday to catch up with the on-going championships (and the under the pretext of wanting to be updated on recent politics).

The morning went on with the fuss of the city in every corner, with Shay visiting the Arena on the outside and the inside, going into the Dragon Flats Borough, the neighborhood of the majority of Non-benders like the him and Ming, the city park afterwards, where they had taken a walk and Shay had helped some kids getting back their "frisbee" or whatever, the Industrial Areas, an area Shay decided not to go often, had a snack at Little Ba Sing Se Mall, and now were on Harmony Tower along with several other tourists.

"... and as such this is the best site in the city to have a panoramic view.", Ming tells Shay.

"It is astonishing how a city can be so big and be so overwhelming.", Shay comments, trying to stay by Ming´s side over the people bumping into him and driving him away from him. New York looked like an underdeveloped city in comparison with Republic City, even though they had many aspects in common. "Did you feel like this when you first came here?"

"I was born here, Mr. Cormac. From my perspective it was a matter of feeling amazed when I started to look to this city with real eyes.", Ming reformulates the question.

Shay glances at him intently before following his guide out of the tower. Ming had seemed a man you would dismiss as unimportant but Shay had ruled out that possibility. The man hid a truth from the world. It had first started when they had met, when he had told the lie and Ming had lost the annoyed look, only to return when he looked at Tenzin´s neck. He had thought nothing in the beginning until Tenzin had left. Ming had become more open with Shay and traded almost comradely phrases, while asking for Shay´s story when before he had looked uninterested. The most relevant suspection was the subtle clues of his distaste for some people (Tenzin, a policeman that had inquired them at some point and lastly a group of men working by the Industrial Areas) and the city.

" _«with real eyes»?"_ , Shay wonders.

Shay sighs.

"Something´s wrong pal?", Ming looks at Shay and asks.

"It´s nearly lunchtime and I wanted to buy a souvenir before leaving. I was hoping we´d have enough time.", Shay makes up an excuse.

"Why didn´t you say so? Next stop: Downtown.", Ming smiles like they are best pals and leads Shay back to the car.

* * *

"We´re going to have to park here. From here on we´ll get no better spot to enter the market.", Ming says, parking on a sidewalk and turning off the Satomobile.

Shay waits for the parking maneuver to be completed and then exits the car. What we first notices is the crowd of people entering a street or leaving with their arms and hands holding full shopping bags. Ming signals Shay to accompany him to a back street and the latter follows him obediently, ignoring the smell of rotten garbage from the dark plastic bags spread through the narrow street. Ming must be doing the same or not smelling it, for he doesn´t show repulsion at all. They take a turn to the left and leave the back street, entering Downtown for real.

"Welcome to Downtown, the only melting pot collection of shops of Republic City. This is one of the busiest areas of the city and holds mostly a never-ending variety of everyday objects and relics. No better place to pick a souvenir.", Ming announces, gesturing widely to both sides of the streets and beyond them.

"I will be the judge of that, Mr. Zhao.", Shay proclaims. "I´m only looking for something that isn´t too expensive and doesn´t require me breaking my back."

Ming instantly snaps his fingers. "I know just the spot."

Shay and Ming cut through the crowd of people strolling around the sets of food, jewelry, postcards, books, phonographs, looking for a souvenir for Shay to take back to the island. The two can make out policemen (Metalbenders, according to Ming) along the way, keeping an attentive eye on the streets. Shay starts to believe that it is either too much security in the zone, or there is something else happening. Ming leads him deeper into Downtown to one of the less crowded areas with little security, claiming the stores lined up to be the cheapest in Downtown. Taking his words for true, Shay looks over the products on the tables and behind showcases. From rings to phonographs, simple kitchen tools to ornamented, yet probably fake, daggers, picture frames, ancient paintings, brushes, inks, writing kits (useful)…

"Wow, I can´t decide what to pick.", he fakes confusion in his statement, making it seem like he´s talking to himself.

"Young man, are you in need some assistance?", an elderly voice calls out.

Shay and Ming look at the source of the voice and see an old lady with glasses and garbed in a kimono standing outside her shop and smiling pleasantly at Shay. Her store has seen better days. The white paint around the front is wearing out, the wooden door on the right extreme as been in a better state and Shay can see dust in the objects exposed behind the glass. Hers is one of those that sells antiques, with canes, fans, garbs, etc…

"I´m looking for anything that isn´t expensive. Don´t have any preference.", Shay tells her.

"Would you want me to browse you my things? I do believe that my prices can suit your needs.", the woman offers.

Agreeing, the three walk into the shop. If the front needed work, then the interior needed changes. Aside from the objects stuck to the walls and compressed in the shelves, everything else showed how badly the store was kept. The only thing can make Shay know that the walls had had any color was the remainders of yellow paint in the corners of the walls, the counter had boards nailed to keep people from seeing the other side and makeshift curtains replaced the backdoor. Shay´s manners are what keep him from whistling at the conditions of the shop.

"I know, I know, my store isn´t some luxurious palace, but it´s held on for three decades.", the woman sighs, kicking the wall next to her to emphasize her point. Unfortunately, a shelf dislodges itself from the wall and crashes in the ground with a bang, scattering the objects throughout the floor. The three stare at the fallen shelf for a moment before the woman curses. "Damn you, Hanzo."

"Allow me to help.", Ming offers, beating Shay to it.

"Oh, how kind of you.", the woman praises as she searches for a broom.

Shay joins Ming in collecting the objects, placing them on the counter three at a time. When he crouches and lifts a broken piece to pick up a shiny object, he stops. How could it be there? How?

"Young man, have you found something of your liking?", the woman catches Shay staring at the metal object. Going by how mesmerized he is, she could get a satisfied client in a few seconds. Ming stops to observe his companion as well.

"Miss, where did you get this?", Shay asks, standing up.

"Ah, I have had that for ages, no one was ever interested in buying that.", the woman explains, taking it from his hands and brushing a hand over it. "It´s said that that is from the final days of one of the Avatar Roku. He called it a…"

"Hidden Blade.", Shay finishes.

Both man and woman look at him curiously.

"Yes, that´s right. I´ve never been able to activate that and no one else have, so I´ve left it alone. Since you know what it is, perhaps you could show me?", the woman asked.

Shay rolled up his right sleeve to reveal his own Hidden Blade and showed the mechanism to the other two. Then he jerked his hand back and the blade slid out, ready for use. Retracting it, Shay lowers his sleeve before asking the price.

"That would be three yuans, dear.", she answers.

Going for his wallet, he takes out three metal coins and hands them to the woman, who gives him the metal Hidden Blade in exchange. They wish each other a good afternoon and Shay and Ming leave the store.

"I´m confused Shay. If you already carry one of those with you, why get another one?", Ming inquires. He looks at the Hidden Blade with an interest that Shay doesn´t overlook.

"This is a family relic that was thought lost. My great-great-grandfather forged this to be a family heritage, but nine years ago or so they were gambled away.", Shay lied once more. The reason he wanted it was because he had found a Hidden Blade from Ezio Auditore´s time, which came with the blade and the gun mechanism, a small square chamber behind the blade and activated by a button next to it. If it still worked, he could fight in the distance without his pistols. "Shall we go back?"

"Yes, Tenzin must be wondering where in Agni´s ass we´ve gone off to.", Ming agrees.

They make their way out of Downtown and as they nearly leave, people stop and jump to the sides to avoid being collided by a red Satomobile with a golden engine sticking out of the hood. Out of it comes out a man dressed in gray clothes, a black fedora with a white strap and dark pants, a mischievous smirk plastered to his face and carrying a box in his arms. He took a look around and noting that everyone´s eyes were on him, he told them arrogantly to go on with their lives, which they promptly did. Satisfied, the man went over to a stand selling meat (" _Mmmm, meat"_ , Shay drooled mentally) and engaged in a conversation with the owner. The owner was nervous about the presence of the arrogant man and the latter cocked his head to the sides and snapped his fingers constantly while talking, like taunting the scared man. Finally he left, leaving the box in the hands of the owner of the stand.

"I take it he´s a well-known fellow.", Shay whispers to Ming.

"Too well actually. He is Viper, a member of the Triple Threat Triads, they own this part of town.", Ming agrees, scowling at the mobster´s retreating figure.

In the meantime, the owner had wanted to take a look at what was in the box he was delivered, so he had taken out one of the two long objects. When Shay noticed what it was, it made him do a double-take before running towards the man, confusing Ming.

"Mister, how did he get that?", Shay blurts out a few feet away from the stand owner. Said man hid the object in the box and placed it behind his back.

"Who´s this ´he´ you are talking about so? Do you want some meat?", the man stutters.

If Shay wasn´t so dead-serious over this matter, he would have slammed a fist on the table. "Sir, it´s imperative that you tell me how he got that.", he whispers, face morphing into an intimidating face he had learned to make from Liam.

"That´s none of your damn business! And if you´re not here to buy, then of what good are you! Scram!", the man, sweating profusely, orders Shay.

Letting out a growl, Shay storms back to where Ming was. The man didn´t get to ask what that had been about when Shay shushes him. "I need your help in distracting that man so I can get back my tools."

"… You will owe me for this.", Ming tells him before walking to the stand.

Shay goes around Ming from the right and stood against a lamp post inconspicuously, waiting for Ming to start talking to the man. As soon as that happened, Shay goes behind the stand and parts a cover to see the man´s backside and the box lying on the floor. Ming notes Shay´s head between the covers and walks slightly to the left, forcing the man to follow him and avoid spotting Shay. Stealthily, Shay reaches for the box with his two hands and brings it to his side, leaving his spot and going back into the crowded street. He waits some time for Ming to join him.

"Shay, you´re gonna have to tell me why we´ve gone over this just to get that box. If the Triple Threats find out you have it…", Ming starts scolding.

"They won´t. I merely wished to retrieve what is mine and they shouldn´t have.", Shay assures, opening the box and removing two long wooden flintlocks. "And now I have to talk with that man in the hat."

"Wait, don't. The triads stole from you, it happens. We´ll inform the police.", Ming tries to dissuade him.

"We can´t. First of all, these were confiscated by the police. Secondly, if they were in the police´s charge and the triad got their hands on it…", Shay shakes his head, placing the pistols between his belt and pants. Uncomfortable but it´ll do.

"… that means the police were robbed blind by someone in disguise.", Ming concludes, shocked.

"Or they have an informant in their ranks.", Shay proposes, feeling more inclined to that. "In any case, I need to know how they acquired my stuff."

"Count me in.", Ming declares instantly. "I´m not missing a chance to put scum like him in order."

Still weary of Ming´s behavior towards a few people, Shay reluctantly agrees. After all, four eyes are better than two.

The duo walks once again down the street full of people, which had crowded a lot more with the approach of lunchtime. Finding the man would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

" _Dammit, there´s too many."_ , Shay notes. "You see him?"

"No can do. There is like a hundred people in the street. How do you suppose we´ll find the man?", Ming replies. He bumps into a man and hastily apologizes.

"We need to go to higher ground. Maybe…", Shay looks over the buildings, trying to see a good one to climb and get a favorable view of the streets. "…that one."

Ming looks to the building in question, covered with advertisement posters and shakes his head.

"Heavily guarded. It´s where you´ll find most cops doing rounds and they are not welcoming at all.", he informs, reflexively rubbing his shoulder.

"All the better!", Shay, to Ming´s confusion, exclaims, cracking his knuckles. "I won´t be long, Mr. Zhao."

"Wait. You´d need luck to pass unnoticed. It´s five stories of Metalbending policemen and a 9 ft drop down!", Ming tries to call back Shay. Not that he was speaking from experience…no…

Shay halts to turn to Ming and winks playfully. "I make my own luck. First thing you have to know about me!"

With that said, Shay walks towards an alleyway to the left of the building, gives its wall a thorough observant look, smiles, and starts climbing the wall.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It certainly didn´t look much of a challenge. The conditions in which the building was kept told him there wouldn´t be any danger of something suddenly falling down due to his weight or from problems in the construction. The real problem would be the windows, where a policeman could look down or to the sides and spot him. So overall, reaching the top of the building would be a matter of stealth and shortcuts. Not very recommendable for someone who was still recovering his former physical shape.

" _Shut up already. I make my own luck._ ", Shay stubbornly berates himself. Where were his worries coming from today?

Already grabbing a vertical pipe that went up to the third floor of the building, Shay scales the building while doing as less noise as possible, his controlled breathing and the soft slam of his hands on the barrel being the only sounds made. To his dismay, he is close to fully climbing the thing when he feels the need to rest, so he leaves the barrel and climbs on top of a working air-conditioning unit to regain breath on the right. Curse the Assassins and Liam especially! If it wasn´t for that damned bullet, he wouldn´t be taking a break like a civilian trying out for a marathon. Perhaps he should start finding a gym to work out…

He takes a glance to the crowd down the street to see if Ming was watching him only to find the man missing. That wasn´t good. Maybe he should hurry up before Ming did something he might regret. Huffing, he resumes his climbing, going even slower this time around. He finds a ledge leading to a worn out billboard to the right, away from the eyesight of an emerging policeman, and shimmies towards the billboard. The paper of the advertisement is torn in a few places, exposing the metal infrastructure holding the billboard to the wall and making them the perfect handholds to ease the climbing. Going up diagonally to the upper limits of the advertisement, little by little, Shay begins to discern a conversation.

"The fact that he is here means something nasty is up.", a male voice remarks.

"I know it does. But we can´t do anything unless he causes a ruckus.", a sterner male voice says to the other man. "That man should have been put behind bars a long time ago."

Shay zooms out of the eavesdropping to check where to go next. Continuing climbing the billboard would lead directly to the window and then he could be caught, so he looks to the left to find more handholds away from the window, not far from where he is. With a small calculated jump, Shay grabs the small metal bar and continues on his way, all the while his attention going back to the conversation from back then.

"What about the rest of his goons? Usually they´re not far behind.", the male voice notes. As Shay looks down, he finds the owner of the voice looking out to the streets, his head rotating as he follows someone´s movements, probably Viper´s.

"Those guys have their own agendas, Wei. Downtown is not the only part of town under control of the Triple Threats Triad.", the sterner voice says.

"Wow, hold on, sir! Then where do they have other bases?", Wei asks, taken by surprise. Quite frankly, Shay stops just above the window to better hear the valuable information.

"Reports say that some lower members of the Triad are making regular trips to the Dragon Flats Boroughs, staying well past half a day. What´s curious is that the boroughs are active Traid territory under no current ownership, which means either a deal is going on, or they are expanding territory.", his superior reveals. Shay finds that interesting. The gangs in New York all worked for the same organization, however it wasn´t out of ordinary for a gang to get greedy and try to take over another portion of the city from an ally. The situations was very, very similar with each other.

" _But this isn´t New York. These Triads don´t work together and seem to not be on good terms._ ", Shay reminds himself. There could be lots of collateral damage depending on how deep the rivalry was and the time when they´d be at each others` throats.

Shay, still going over the new information, carries on climbing, deciding he had lost enough time. Another ventilation unit is his next stop to take a break. By now, he is on the third story and the view of the crowds and the buildings down to City Hall was something that would give a lesser man dizziness. He notices that he is almost leaving the darkest side of the building and potentially be close to being discovered. He searches for a route that doesn´t lead him to broad daylight, but he can´t find one. His only alternative is to go through a closed window and continue from the inside.

With no other choice, he stands against the wall on his back and sidewalks towards the window, ignoring his throat drying up as a result of a tiny flicker of fear of falling and crashing down. He keeps his cool and reaches the window, sliding it open to his side and, after checking his surroundings, he vaults in, closing the window to avoid suspicions. He finds himself in an office with five desks per ten rows, papers stocked in piles and telephones on top of them. He checks a sheet of paper beneath his right foot and his moderate understanding of Chinese allows him to figure out that the office handled insurances. He stays still to try and catch any sounds of footsteps, and then he silently walks to the stairs leading up, always in a crouched position. He halts by the stairs to peek down and see if there´s anyone going up to his location before he carries on. At the end of the stairs he crouches again and sharpens his senses to detect anyone is the new story. This time he can hear the rustling of papers, which confirms he is not alone. He immediately slides to a wall and grabs a sharp shard of glass left by a corner, using it to get a look to where the policeman was and determinate his course of actions. The policeman, a metalbender by the attire he wore and the cables strapped to his hips, was studying the papers, too interested in his job to look up and see the hand holding the shard coming from behind the beige wall. The room was exactly like the previous one, so Shay can already establish a route via hiding behind the desks and out of sight.

Shay slides to the desk closer to him and crouches again, unheard by the policeman. Hearing nothing that indicates he´s checking up on his location, Shay maneuvers discreetly towards the next set of desks, vaults over them to the next desk, as the rest of the way has no means to conceal him, and remains there. This time, the cop did lift his head to check on what was causing the soft stomping of feet he had heard. He surveys the room, shrugs his shoulders and goes back to arranging the sheets of papers in the desk, muttering " _That was close_ ". Shay breathes a small sigh of relief and leaves his cover to head to the unwatched stairs. His approach is cut to an end however by the glimpse of heels hitting its steps and Shay retreats back to his cover, shaking off the strain in his legs because of the prolonged positioning.

"Wanna gather for booze and cigars tonight?", a female voice asks to her unseen companion.

"Weren´t you letting go of those?", a male voice chuckles. The more they go down the stairs, the more their armored legs become visible.

"What my husband doesn´t know stays that way.", the woman retorts with annoyance. "So how´s the search coming along, Hanzo?"

Shay sinks lower in his cover and the formerly only man in the room straightens his back and salutes the two.

"I have collected these insurance papers of the disappeared men and women. There is nothing conclusive as to why they would forge their kidnappings.", Hanzo reports, dropping his salute stance.

"Guess we can cross off attempting to waste our time.", the other man declares sitting on a desk out of sight of Shay. "Then that narrows the list down to two options: or the victims were lured to the new job post or one of the suspects is lying to us."

"What about the Triads?", Hanzo suggests.

"What would the Triads want with earthbenders without criminal records? And you saw their bank accounts, they were making big money.", the woman dismissed the theory. Shay hears flesh hitting flesh and an exclamation. "Oh Spirits, how come we´ve never thought of that? Where was all the money coming from?"

"…Point taken. Hanzo…", the other man agrees with audible surprise.

"On it.", the man says and Shay hears drawers being pulled back. "We have nothing here. Didn´t Mr. Chan work the office below?"

All Shay hears for the next minutes is the sound of footsteps heading to the stairs and going down another floor. Knowing the coast´s clear, Shay runs to the stairs leading to the last floor and climbs them hurriedly. The last floor is where the boss´s office is, if the big letters on the wooden door are any clue. To the right there is a balcony, with a canvas making shadow, overlooking the entrance to Downtown which, after Shay checked it out, was in front of the rooftop of a building that in turn overlooked the entire the street. Grinning and calculating the distance, Shay steps back against the wall and after inhaling deeply through the nose, sprints to the balcony and jumps over the railing. The sunlight hits Shay hard on the eyes and due to the intense light, Shay hits the rooftop´s ledge with the midsection instead of his legs.

" _Fuck me…"_ , Shay curses while groaning.

Painfully climbing to the rooftop, Shay gets up and with a hand rubbing his pained chest and looks over the crowd of people down. If the job wasn´t going to be easy before, it sure got harder while Shay was busy climbing a viewpoint. He heaves a sigh and closes his eyes. Maybe he could try something…

He remembered the Assassins talking about it, especially Achilles in his theoretical lessons of the ways the Brotherhood used to accomplish the tasks. The First Civilization, like the Greek Gods, had left a mark in mankind, a special trait that enabled people to analyze his or her surroundings in a deeper and detailed manner. Such ability was a rare thing to come across, and a few statements and records of Assassin members from past and present worldwide branches mentioned its use and the description of the feeling. Most of these accounts came from the hands and feathers of Altair Ibn-La-Ahad, François Goutier (Chevalier used to bring that up, the arsehole), Robin of Loxley, Thomas de Carnellion, Ezio Auditore, Shao Jun, Santiago Herrera and the most recent one, Edward Kenway, the Welsh Pirate turned Assassin. His was the most accurate one, going as far as to explaining how to activate it, with a mention of a Mary Read involved.

Now sure, the is about one in a thousand chances that somehow a member of the First Civilization had blessed his line with that trait, but it would not hurt to try. And desperate times called for desperate solutions.

" _The sixth sense will only emerge if all other senses are working together. You have to look beyond the shadow and sound, even the heart of matter, until you see and hear a flicker. So far, everything Mary had told me has happened. It makes you think you´ve woken up from a deep sleep and that you can see what you have missed for so long. All men and women have it. Some never find it; Some take years to unlock it; But to others, it has always been there. I was lucky enough to belong to the latter.",_ the words of Edward Kenway ring in his head, bright and clear from the minutes spent memorizing them.

Oh, how Shay had tried to follow the instructions he had read when he was an Initiate. How he had failed time after time to hear beyond the grasshoppers in the night and see beyond the grass and the trees and everyone in the Homestead, only to reassure himself that it would come to him naturally. Because he felt he was special, like there was something in his skin that was begging to come out of the dark. Question was, when the devil was that going to happen?

" _Lets us hope it is now."_ , Shay wishes, sending a silent prayer to God or whatever deity would hear his call.

Shay assumes a relaxed pose and closes his eyes, trying his hardest to enhance his senses, to try and hear everything and to imagine what he wasn´t watching. Still no sign of a flicker. His eyebrow twitches. He tries harder. His facial muscles tense in forced concentration. And still no sign of a flicker. Goddammit, c´mon! With a defeated growl, Shay opens his eyes and kicks a stone of the rooftop, not the least bothered by the sound of it striking someone´s tent and cracking some glass object.

" _What can I be doing of wrong? I try and try and try but it´s always the same!"_ , he complains, running his hands over his hair. " _How did those other Assassins manage to get the sense? I doubt with all the conflict they had they had had time to develop the skills, the lucky bastards."_

" _ **Haven´t you figured it out already?**_ "

Shay freezes. He had heard a voice that he thought it came only in his dreams. "Where are you?", he asks.

" _ **Physically I am not here, in your world. I am using the special link we possess to communicate with you and now to help you unlock your hidden sense.**_ _"_ , the voice, distorted as it had sounded in his sleep, explains.

"Who are you?", Shay asks, looking at the sky.

" _ **I am «Héping», and I am a spirit. And in this moment, I am acting as your spiritual guide. I trust you have noticed the Airbending family practicing their bending?**_ ", the spirit introduces itself.

"Aye. They flow like a leaf and take regular meditation sessions to stay tuned with their inner selves.", Shay summarizes, recalling the times he had found Tenzin leading the said exercises.

" _ **Good. That is what you shall do. Meditate.**_ ", Héping instructs.

With no real alternative to his trouble, Shay sits cross-legged on the ground, rests his hands on his knees and closes his eyes.

" _ **Now take deep breaths and listen to as much as you can**_ **.** _"_ , Héping continues, her voice becoming less distorted and sounding more soft. Shay does what he is told, capturing the sounds of the conversations on ground level, the Satomobiles driving in the streets, and the sounds of the air condition working. " _ **Now visualize all that you hear: the people talking to one another, the carriages that move without assistance, the artificial air, the birds chirping…**_ ", Héping carries on. Once more, Shay does all that. The clearer the images are constructed in his head, the clearer he can sense a spark. Then he hears a flicker and his heart jumps in surprise. " _ **Now open your eyes**_."

He cracks an eye open slowly to find the world very different. It´s strangely brighter and bluer. He looks at his hands, legs and torso to see them shining blue. He rises from his meditative stance and looks down below to the streets. It´s a sea of white specters, with a few dots of blue and red and a golden smoky line leading further into the street. He snaps his head to the right at the sound of a horn and he can´t stop the shock of seeing the whole world in white, blue, with the sky dark as a starless night. The sounds of the cars reach his ears in an increased volume, and Shay discovers that some of them come from the periphery of the city. The conversations the people are having fly into his ears, words of glee, sadness, horror and anger being registered in unison.

"This is amazing… I can hear everything and I can see everything _."_ , Shay mutters, focusing on Air Temple Air. It´s like he´s there physically, watching the Air Nomads going on with their duties and chores and Pema attending the flowers.

" _ **Wow.**_ ", Héping comments, sharing his thoughts. " _ **I knew that Eagle Vision was some sort of enhanced sense, but I never imagined it was something this magnificent."**_

"Thank you, Háping.", Shay thanks.

" _ **Héping. And you´re welcome. Seek me whenever you need help, Shay.**_ _",_ Héping corrects. Then Shay feels his head lose some weight he hadn´t noticed he had had and he is left alone.

So many questions rose in his head but were suppressed by his need to find the Triad member who had given him the slip. Still using his new-found gift, he searched the street carefully for his target, quickly establishing the meaning of the auras around people. People who could be a helping hand were marked by a blue aura, the red aura encircled the policemen spread around the buildings, so in a general term, enemies, and the plain white aura around the rest meant they were neutral or posed no danger to him. The golden lines were curious, extending all the way down the street and ending with the golden figure of Viper walking proudly through the crowd. But the one thing Shay could not understand were the colors in some people´s hands. Some were dark blue and flowed into the arms like blood, others brown and with some cracks around the wrists and others bright orange and hovered over the hands.

That was something he could set aside for later investigations. For now, calling off his gift with a blink of his eye, Shay goes back to ground level by sliding down a rusty pipe and started running towards Viper. Bumping into people, Shay also kept an eye out for Ming, whom he had not been able to find with his gift. After walking for some time, he begins to identify the light gray back of his target and gets closer to him, checking his Hidden Blades discreetly in case a fight broke out. He is side by side with him, the only one not giving a glance at the Triad member and hastily moving on, an action that catches Viper´s eye.

"Are you blind or just stupid?", Viper asks Shay, looking him up and down. Shay ignores him and keeps walking beside him as if Viper didn´t exist. "Ah, you´re deaf.", Viper realizes, stepping in front of Shay and making him stop. "So, now do you feel like reacting?"

Shay observes the Triad member. His expression betrayed cockiness and a high opinion of himself, so he most likely had a big position in the Triple Threat Triad and had some power in the ranks. A lump in the right side told him he kept a pouch with him, and considering the colors of his attire and his skin tone, he could probably be a waterbender. And lastly, his right shoulder was angled forwards, meaning he was right-handed.

"You the one they call Viper?", Shay attempts to guess, stalling time to find Ming.

"Indeed I am. And you must surely know that you are in Triple Threat Triad territory.", Viper confirmed. The people were starting to clear away when it was revealed who the mobster was.

"And is that suppose to scare me?", Shay asks bored. From the corner of the eye, he spots a familiar face with a long mustache. Using his gift, he confirms it´s Ming, surrounded by a blue one.

"Yes, it should. Since you´re new in town, I´m going to explain how things run in here: Downtown is ours and if you want protection, you pay us. If you don´t want to spend a day in the hospital, you have to show us respect.", Viper smiled dangerously. Intimidating people was just so fun to him…

But Shay was not fazed by the speech. "I´ve seen and heard of gangs since I was a lad, Viper. New York´s filled with them and I´ve done associations with them for 4 years. I know all their tricks and I can tell you are not original in your job. I don´t care if you are a waterbender or if you can send an assassin to kill me at night, I´ve seen scarier people than you.", Shay tells him, casually talking like he was narrating the weather report. Viper had by now lost his smug look and looked torn between surprised and irritated. "But good thing you´re here. Tell me how did this come into your hands?" Shay takes a pistol in his hand and shows it to the mobster.

Viper takes a long look at the thing and then looks at Shay. "Haven´t seen that thing ever.", he denies.

"Oh? Then it wasn´t you who sought a merchant to keep your secret merchandise hidden from unwanted eyes?", Shay calmly asks with a smile. He´s pleased to see the expression of Viper grow sterner. He takes a step forward, invading Viper´s personal space. "Who gave you my pistols?"

"I think you actually do have a hearing problem. I don´t know what you´re on about.", Viper growls. Then, without giving Shay time to react, he puts his right hand in the inside of the jacket and removes it in a swinging motion, releasing a water whip that slaps Shay hard, throwing him to the sidewalk and sending the pistol flying in the air. "And I think you are about to regret assuming I´m doing something illegal."

Shay rolls to the right and gets into a fighting stance, ready for a fight. But his opponent sticks to waterbending and moves his arms in a circular motion, a water whip forming, thrusting them forwards next and releasing it like a jet. Shay rolls forward to close in distance and attacks with a one-two combo of hooks, all blocked by Viper. The crowd of people disperses to avoid being caught in the crossfire, most of them shouting for help from the police. Viper ducks under a right hook and manipulates the water in a vase of flowers to flow upwards and rain down on Shay. Shay blocks his face with his forearms as he receives a shower of water mixed with bits of earth and is nearly thrown to his back. Viper does not waste time taking advantage of the opportunity and sweeps his feet from underneath him.

"This is a fight you could never win.", Viper gloats, looking down at Shay.

" _Where are you Ming?"_ , Shay asks inwardly.

As if he had heard the calling, a shadow appears over him and stomps a foot next to his head. With a quick set of jabs to Viper´s left arm, Ming attacks the mobster and finishes with a roundhouse kick, sending Viper away from the two.

"Thanks. Took you long enough.", Shay thanks, raising an arm which Ming takes.

"I was just waiting for the appropriate moment to show up.", Ming smiles, hoisting Shay up. His mood is no longer casual and jolly, it´s much more serious. "We take him on?"

"Yeah, let´s stall him until the police comes.", Shay agrees. This time he prepares to dodge anything Viper can throw at him.

Said mobster was getting up on one knee and glaring at Ming for the intrusion, hat resting beside him and his left arm dangling disabled in his right arm. Realizing the most dangerous of his opponents, he extends his usable arm to Ming and an arc of water shoots at his direction fast. Both non-benders dodge to a separate way and charge, Shay reaching for the pistol that hasn´t been shown and Ming moving in zig-zags to Viper. Trying to keep the two under his watch, he gets fully up and throws a rotating kick to the right, another arc of water appearing and aiming to the two. Shay somersaults the arc and Ming flips over the arc, almost reaching the mobster. Shay takes out his pistol and aims to Viper´s arm, an action that goes noticed and results in a second jet of water being sent at him. This distracts Viper from Ming and his other raised arm receives another set of jabs, disabling it totally. Shay, that had dodged the jet by sliding under it, runs up to the mobster and decks him, taking the used hand to Viper´s face and pushing it down while sweeping his feet.

Now with the roles reversed, Shay and Ming hold Viper´s limbs in place to restrain him and Shay resumes his interrogatory: "WHERE did you get my pistols?"

"Piss off.", Viper angrily spits.

"You should give him an answer, mobster. Otherwise, my friend will have to turn you into an eunuch.", Ming smirks.

Shay gives Ming a split-second glance before playing along. He slides his Hidden Blade out and rests it under Viper´s chin.

"I´d rather make you choke on your blood than give you a permanent scar.", Shay whispers in a dark tone. The eyes of his captive widen and look to the blade. "Now give me something that isn´t a curse."

"Go to…", Viper starts only to feel the tip of the blade press harder against his throat. "Alright fine. A contact inside the Police Headquarters passed them to my boss about a week ago. They weren´t anything like we´ve ever had, so the boss thought it´d be best to be kept away from others."

"Who would pick them up?", Ming questions . He feels the arm he´s holding return to full mobility and he can´t jab it, for it would mean releasing Viper´s leg.

"A friend who would hide them somewhere in the city.", Viper answers vaguely. He would be damned if he gave any names, that he knew for sure.

Shay slides the Hidden Blade back in place and grabs Viper by the collar of the shirt, Ming releasing his assigned limbs and watching. Getting the man up, Shay throws him against a stand full of pottery.

"If I find out something else from my arsenal has been taken away, you better pray I don´t find you, understood?", Shay growls, using the pistol to shoot a pot an inch above Viper´s head to clarify the point. Viper bares his teeth in annoyance at him and prepares to retaliate when he catches sight of something behind Shay´s back and smiles, disappearing in an alleyway afterwards. Soon there is the sound of metal piercing stone.

"Shay, we gotta get out of here.", Ming urges, grabbing Shay´s elbow and dragging him with him.

Behind them, the metalbenders that had been patrolling the streets inside the buildings were sailing through the air and in pursuit of the only men in sight and suspiciously responsible for the commotion many citizens had complained about. The non-benders run down the street, Shay following Ming´s lead as they turn left, hide in an alleyway cleaner than the others, climb a metal fence, vault over the garbage bins randomly placed, climb up the walls of an apartment to get across a wall and reach the street opposite to the one they had entered Downtown.

"This is the police! Surrender where you are!", A policeman, Hanzo, Shay recognized, ordered from a rooftop. On the street, his other four colleagues cut the access out of Downtown and further into the commercial district.

"Come on!", Ming says, returning to the alleyway they had gone through. This time however, Ming pulled Shay to a large garbage bin and signaled him to get in. Begrudged, Shay complies, covering his nose from the rotten smell. Ming hops in and closes the lid. The footsteps and the metal sounds reach the area, questions of their whereabouts are made, the orders are given and soon any signs of the policemen disappear.

"Coast´s clear.", Ming states, looking over a gap. They leave the garbage bin and shake off any trash they have stuck on their clothes. "Not the first time I´m chased by them and not the first time I´m not arrested."

"Good for you. Problem is they are likely blocking our exits and we´re cut off.", Shay comments.

"Ah, you are forgetting that they don´t know that we can parkour our way up the buildings. If we start climbing there and make our way to the rooftop of that green apartment, we can move undetected and leave Downtown.", Ming explains, pointing to two buildings separated by a large gap.

"Parkour? That a word for wall climbing?", Shay inquires with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, never heard it before?", Ming smiles at his companion. "Seriously, where do you come from Shay?"

Ignoring the taunt, Shay once more follows Ming.

* * *

Tenzin was having a very stressful day.

His meeting in the Council hadn´t gone smoothly like he had hoped. His fellow councilmen were still doubtful that the Equalists were a matter of deep concern, calling it a bunch of protesters with nothing to do and complaining about life. Fortunately, or unfortunately, whichever the perspective of the person, Tarrlok had been the sole councilman to want to hear any measures to take in order to control the situation. With the man, you could never be sure what to expect from having his support. Tenzin had the feeling in his heart that things would scale into a disaster. He had to talk with some trusted public workers to keep tabs on any troublemakers with potential ties with the anti-bending movement. After he finished with the priority problem of the moment.

Shay had been arrested and was due to spend the night in jail.

"I´m here to see Lin.", he tells the policeman at the reception. The policeman, knowing who he was, nodded and motioned him to go through.

Tenzin rushes to the lobby and along the way keeps asking for Lin Beifong´s whereabouts, firstly getting negative responses but finally a statement saying that the Police Chief was in her office, filling paperwork. Thanking the officer for the information, Tenzin walks past the desk clerks discussing cases or exchanging impressions on one matter or another, knocks on the door to the Chief´s office and after hearing a harsh "who is it?", he enters the room.

"Good afternoon, Lin.", he greets cordially.

"Oh, it´s you. Are you here for you guest?", Lin asks, her tone as commanding as usual.

"Yes. I sup…", Tenzin begins.

"No Tenzin. I´m sorry but Shay will stay here for the night. Tomorrow you can pick him up.", Lin says, packing a set of papers and setting them aside, grabbing another sheet of paper.

"Please Lin. I´m sure that what Shay has done can be compensated.", Tenzin begs.

"You think? Disturbing public peace, damaging stands, practicing vigilantism and attempting to escape the police can be compensated?", Lin looks at Tenzin hard. "I´ve gotten calls over lunch demanding that Viper gets arrested too, but we have no idea where he went after his little confrontation."

"I believe Shay had a pretty good reason to confront Viper, he is a peaceful man. I´m sure his side of the story will clear things up.", Tenzin comments, approaching Lin´s desk. "Has he given his testimony yet?"

"No, he was only brought in here half an hour ago. In fact, I´d like to get him off my back right now. Follow me.", Lin orders, rising from her chair with a file on her hands.

Glad to oblige, Tenzin stays behind her as they go to one of the interrogation rooms, stopping by the second one. A policeman stands guard inside the room to prevent a handcuffed Shay from attempting to escape, even though the latter showed no signs of wanting to leave. He looks spaced out from everything around him, a hand holding his chin in deep thought and the other resting on top of the table, tapping his fingers on the table systematically. Tenzin looks at Lin, who doesn´t return the look.

"Stay here. If I need you, I´ll let you know.", she says, going inside the room without waiting for a reply. Tenzin was not thinking of giving her one anyway.

When the Chief of Police walks into the room, the policeman salutes her and resumes a straight position. Lin nods curtly at that and slams the file in front of Shay, numerating him of the charges against him and the hundreds of yuans that would be spent to pay for the public damage. Shay listens to her with a focused look, never faltering at the authoritative tone that rose slightly.

"I can explain.", Shay justifies when Lin stops and sits in the opposite chair to his.

"What is there to explain?", Lin asks sarcastically. Shay knew that he had to choose his next words carefully.

"Viper had delivered a box to a merchant for safekeeping until a contact of his arrived. The box contained two of my weapons that you were handed over by Tenzin before I woke up, weapons that can do lethal damage or severely injure those caught in its trajectory.", Shay explains. To this, Lin raises a skeptical brow. "When I confronted the mobster with these facts, he attacked me and it was with the assistance of… an ally, that I managed to find out how he had gotten my pistols."

"Oh yeah? Then enlighten me.", Lin demanded, resting her elbows on the table.

Shay looks at the policeman standing guard next to me and then he accepts.

"Under one condition: This man has to leave us alone.", he imposes, jerking his thumb to said policeman.

"And why should I send him away? I´d need a good reason.", Lin chuckles sarcastically.

"It´s the fact that right now you are the only one I trust with this information and that I don´t want word to spread out.", Shay responds.

Lin studies him for some seconds, to see if he was bluffing or lying. And her conclusion was either he was telling the truth or he had some training in keeping his intentions hidden. But she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. She ordered the sergeant to leave the room and after he had entirely left the room, she turned her attention back on Shay.

"The police force has a mole working for the Triple Threat Triads, someone with a rank high enough to get my weapons and leave without anyone giving it a second thought. He could have also stolen them as well, and honestly that is the most reliable option I can think of. He supplied Viper my pistols and perhaps he´s supplied more than that before: operation plans, schedules, information on upcoming major events, and much more…", Shay reveals, lifting fingers as he counted all he deduced.

"That is a very serious claim, Cormac. Do you have any evidence to back it up?", Lin, still unbelieving, asks.

"The only evidence I have is Viper´s confession. But maybe I can identify your mole for you.", Shay proposes. When Lin crossed her arms and leaned back in the chair, he proceeded. "Where I come from, there is this rare sixth sense that awakens in few, a gift that comes from being a descendant of a civilization that existed prior to mankind, in the times of Adam and Eve. I have been trying to awaken it within me and today with some help I succeeded. It allowed me to track down Viper and also to figure out the bending of the people around me and if they would be helpful or hostile towards me."

"Is that right? Care to demonstrate?", Lin asks for proof. Inwardly, she called it a bunch of crap.

Shay nods, closing his eyes and enhancing his senses once more until the flicker returned. When he opens them again, the word is blue and white, Lin was surrounded by a blue aura and her hands were cracked and brown but with metal around the fingers, and, to his curiosity, behind the one-sided mirror, that he had assumed as a regular mirror, he could see Tenzin, his hands filled with white veins, and the guard that had been guarding him. Unconsciously, the range of his sixth sense spread further and soon Shay was capable of seeing every man and woman in the building.

"I can see you are an earthbender who has also mastered metalbending. Behind that mirror Tenzin and that guard from before are watching us with interest and I count… 68 men and 70 women working in this building, 40 of which are firebenders, 34 are waterbenders and the rest are earthbenders. Wait.", Shay pauses, looking down. Seeing through the floor and to lower stories, a golden male figure chats with a fellow officer. "I can also tell you who is the mole. He´s a firebender two stories below and I bet he is an officer, according to his gear."

Lin stays silent with her eyes narrowed. Shay calls off his gift and waits for her final answer, which comes with a sigh. "The fact that I am an earthbender is a well-known fact around Republic City, but the rest I have no idea how you managed to figure out.", he says. She gets up and performs a gesture with her fingers to tell someone to come inside. Not long after, Tenzin enters the room. "You´re the expert in the Spirit World Tenzin. How do you explain this?", she asks.

"I have no idea, Lin. What Shay has done is something I have never seen before and it is extraordinary. To be able to find out one´s bending and their intentions is supposedly impossible or a great deal of luck or study.", Tenzin confesses, looking rather impressed at Shay.

"Well sir, I make my own luck.", Shay grins despite the situation. Of course he had to admit that without Héping´s help he would have never gotten that far.

"Lin, I can assure you that Shay is trustworthy. If he says there is a mole in the police force, we had to arrest him.", Tenzin supports his guest.

"And how do we do that? Shay´s testimony is all there is and his word won´t be enough for an arrest warrant.", Lin points out.

"if I may?", Shay asks. The attention of the older man and woman is on him. "If we pass on a false message to the mobster of a meeting with this mole and vice-versa, they might be drawn out and you can arrest them red-handed. Confession, witnesses and statements."

"Hum, good reasoning, Cormac.", Lin praises without changing from her serious expression. She takes out of her belt a set of keys, find one and with it she relieves Shay from his cuffs. "Point me to the man and let´s be done with this."

"Right away.", Shay nods, rubbing his wrists to restart the blood circulation. With him on the lead and Tenzin and Lin behind him, they leave the interrogation room.

* * *

The abandoned liquors factory had been his playground when he was a kid. It was funny seeing how it hadn´t been demolished or sold to another company during thirty years, perhaps due to the rumors that the place was haunted by an angry spirit or that one of the triads had rigged the place. Hilarious on how deceived people could be when you begin a rumor.

He knows where to find the former boss` office, up a metal staircase that began on the other side of the room where the distillation was done. He walks towards it confident that his proposal would be heard and accepted, climbs it loudly to let them know he was there and he swings the door open with a smirk. The only light comes from a lamp on a desk, partially hidden behind a hooded man with his back turned to him and a hand holding the other behind the back. From the position of his head, he is looking over a radio broadcasting the evening news.

"I don´t know who you are, but take my invitation to leave right now and you might be relieved of a painful death.", the man speaks, tone deeply serious and threatening.

"If I do, you won´t be able to hear what I have to say.", the newcomer retorts, eyeing his left and right. He knows his guards are there, waiting to leap on to him the second they sense something is off. "I come here because I believe in you and the movement. I am tired of the tyranny that our society faces at the hands of benders, and I want to help."

"What makes you so sure that you should come with me and be by my side?", the man questions after a small pause, head slightly tilted to the left.

"I know the city like the back of my hand, sir, every corner, alleyway, every secret. I am also an efficient chi-blocker and I can take down a squad of benders by myself.", the newcomer enumerates, pride swelling at his own words.

"Is that all?"

The answer catches Ming off guard before he disguises it. "Yes. I can teach your soldiers how to chi-block benders to your soldiers and give them a very detailed knowledge for the city. You would benefit from these qualities when you take control of the city."

The man, for once, says nothing, listening to the rest of the evening news. Then he turns off the radio and turns to Ming. The latter can see the mask that covers his face, the mark that a firebender had left on him after he was attacked and his family´s farm burned to the ground.

"How do I know you are not lying?", he asks.

In response to the question, and thinking with his pride rather than his brain, Ming launches a series of jabs to the masked man, only to see them evaded by leaning to the right. The masked man hit Ming with his own jabs and Ming fell on the floor, paralyzed. The guards come out of the shadows and one prepares to deliver a punch to the downed non-bender.

"Hold.", the masked man commands, holding out a hand. The guard lowers his fist and steps aside. "So you were not lying. Very well, I shall give you an opportunity to prove yourself. Meet us tomorrow here at dawn and I shall test your skills properly. What is your name?"

"Ming Zhao, sir.", Ming introduces himself, his heart beating much faster.

"Take Mr. Zhao to a Satomobile and drive him home. If he tries anything, you will neutralize him and dispose of him.", the masked man orders his guards. Then he returns his attention to Ming. "Do not disappoint me, Mr. Zhao."

"I don´t plan to, sir. Thank you Amon, sir!", Ming thanks. At last, his path to change the world for the better had begun.

* * *

 **And here it is!**

 **I hope you enjoyed my take on the stealth and the Eagle Vision. For those wondering how I wrote the latter, let me tell you this: I prefer Oliver Bowden´s approach on Assassin´s Creed. More historically correct, gap-filling and better explained than some moments of the game. And the way he wrote Eagle Vision in "Assassin´s Creed: Black Flag" novel adaptation was way better than any other explanation I had come across.**

 **And now you know what Ming is. You knew what he wanted to be and now how he will start his path to become one of Republic City´s most dangerous Equalists, the Lieutenant. Yes, I also made him a chi-blocker because why not?**

 **Lastly I wanted to ask something: I´m having doubts on how to improve my writing and I recently heard of the Beta-Readers. If anyone could help me write better and perhaps not so repetitively, I would be glad.**

 **For now I´m taking a small break to gather my ideas. Check out my other stories if you want to, re-read my story again, have fun, and I´ll see you later.**


	5. Chapter 4,5

_**Chapter 4.5**_

 _Everything freezes._

 _WARNING: ERROR 022; MEMORY UNSTABLE; LOG OUT IS RECOMMENDED._

 _This does **not** make any sense._

 _WARNING: ERROR 100; SUBJECT NOT SUITED HELIX USAGE; LOG OUT INITIATED._

 _I´m being thrown out of the Animus? What the hell?_

 _RUNNING SCANS. SCANS INCONCLUSIVE. SCANNING SOFTWARE._

 _How come…? I have accessed Shay Cormac´s memories and completed the whole set, one hundred percent synchronized. The memories with glitches included. I can perfectly remain in the Animus for hours while exploring every sensation, feeling and thought of the Templar Irishman. Helix training for the job interview had gone well, all those months ago. The Bleeding Effect is not a problem to me. I haven´t been having hallucinations or mental breakdown throughout the full weekend I studied Shay and in the days afterwards._

 _My vision glitches, making my eyes strain and hurt. The figures of Shay, Lin and Tenzin become enveloped in red lines, before transforming into white figures and dematerializing. Then all becomes pitch black._

 _"Did the Animus suffer a bug?", I ponder. I freeze. I can think for myself again. Which means in a few moments, I´ll be hearing people saying that I, the walking bad luck charm, have done it again. Agh!_

 _Suddenly I´m back to the blue safe room. In here there are no environments, not a (simulated) soul, just me controlling Shay. Usually the wait would be temporary and short, and in two minutes, give or take some seconds, depending on the Helix`s condition, I´d fully log out. In the meantime, I could either wait where I stand, or I could walk aimlessly through the infinite room. Deciding that walking could help me organize my ideas, as it always has, I stroll around._

 _That´s when I take notice of what the mirror-like floor shows._

 _Normally, I wouldn´t spare much of a glance as I knew that it would show Shay´s reflection, not my own. But today it shows something odd. Out of normal. It shows Shay being torn apart, pixel by pixel, showing two versions of him: from the heavily armed Shay with his dark and red Templar uniform, to the Shay with the new look this new set of genetic memories had showed him to have. Mimicking its owner, the reflection raises his hands to observe this strange phenomenon himself and marvels himself with the silver pixels flipping through the different Shays._

 _And then it all went black again._

* * *

First question that comes to my head is " _What just happened?"_

The second is " _Ugh, what does she want now?"_

"You! Are! In big trouble! What makes you think you can keep exploring new memories without anyone giving you permission! What were you thinking, _numbskull_?"

Violet da Costa, hired contract along with her boss to improve security in the building, member of a special task force named SIGMA, and full-time Templar. Yeah, a Templar. From _the_ Templar Order. Not like a knight in armor and helmet carrying a sword of course. The modern ones just use a cell phone, a wallet, and secrecy as a weapon. And a gun in their pockets, just in case. For some reason she spends most of her time with me, even though most of the time she´s the one doing the talking. And now, she stomps the ground furiously as she approaches me.

"It´s bad enough that you caused a virus break-out last weekend, now you possibly damaged sensitive data that we don´t come across these days!", she scolded. I´ve never seen her venting this much anger at me. "I´m starting to think that you are a magnet for problems."

I open my mouth to justify, tell her I have no idea how it´s my fault, but she just holds her hand up to stop.

"There isn´t time for that. Excuses won´t get us anywhere. Now follow me, you are late and Berg is not happy about that.", she commands, grabbing my arm in a grip that I couldn´t escape from and dragging me with her to the elevator.

I gulped. Mr. Berg mad? Fuck. I´d rather eat a gun than meeting a furious Mr. Berg. He´s not a known killing machine for nothing. He´s the leader of the SIGMA task force, recruited by the Templars in exchange for better medical support for his baby girl and a very serious copy of Shay: yeah, like almost a reincarnation. His clothing is similar to the man´s, the way he perceived the Templar-Assassin confrontations is also akin to Shay´s… and, on a personal note, his weakness. He usually never leaves the buildings unless he is absolutely needed. Funny enough, I hadn´t heard from him in four days.

As I go along with Violet, nodding sometimes to make sure she doesn´t suspect I´m not paying attention, some colleagues of mine begin to whisper to each other. I know what they´re thinking. I´ve been promoted the day before yesterday despite the shitty situation I created, I have been seen spending time with the bosses and a small number of guys from the higher offices. Most shockingly, but unknown to everyone but a few, I have been offered a place in their ranks. The chance to become a Templar. Well that would have been awesome actually, if it hadn´t come as an ultimatum. Either accept or be killed right there. Thankfully, they were kind enough to give me time to consider those options.

Scratch that, my only option.

They didn´t need to threaten me anyway. Even before I had seen Shay head to the North Atlantic to track down and stop Achilles Davenport and Liam O´Brien I had been convinced that the Templars were the right choice. I am not against freedom, far from it, but if we are to believe in a radical way that all people should let themselves rule by individual freedom, there would be no laws at all, giving room for anarchy. Any individual could commit evil deeds that could be of little or big consequences, and get away with it, just because he was in his right. And that´s just wrong to think about and accept. Yes, I confess the Templars` ideology also has its problems: peace through order could be easily manipulated to suit the needs of a single person or just a group of individuals, or could be easily turned into a tyranny or a dictatorship; One just has to look at the Borgia family rise to power (historically documented or Animus-documented) to understand that (then again, dictatorship is the best definition for order through control: taking away freedom in exchange for efficiency, just that´s off the topic.)

But why choose them all the same? Because the Templars help maintaining our way of life, the way we are used to deal with our lives. We are kept in order by means of rules that influence our perception of the good or bad, but we keep the freedom to choose if we follow them or if we don´t. I´m content with living like that.

Once inside the elevator, Violet practically hit the 40th floor button and the elevator comes to life, taking us to the last floor, all the while with Violet glaring at me sideways. I ignore her, hoping it gets her off my back. We reach the last floor, where Ms. Melanie Lemay´s office and the server room of the Animus` most important research data are located, and we leave the elevator. The one or two co-workers that wait for their turn to speak with Ms. Lemay nod in greeting at our passing and I likewise return the gesture. Through the glass walls, I spy Mr. Berg and Ms. Lemay looking at her computer, speaking with each other about what they are studying. I spot their winter coats by two chairs and in front of the balcony, covered in snow from the recent snow storm. December is starting out to be pretty cold.

"C´mon numbskull. Time to see what kind of goldmine we stumbled upon.", Violet elbows me in the ribs and takes the lead again. The automated doors slide open and we get the attention of the two occupants.

"Ah, here you are. We were worried that something had happened to you while going through the first sample.", Ms. Lemay says, her voice as chipper and positive as always. Then it loses it. "It didn´t, did it?"

"Nah, he´s as healthy as a pear. Still a bit dumb too. So, shall we go to business?", Violet says, smirking at her insult and my glare.

The four of us move to the large glass table and we seat down facing each other, Mr. Berg in front of me and Violet facing Ms. Lemay. Mr. Berg placed a laptop to his right and facing us, so we could an open file labeled "CONFIDENTIAL_SUBJ_11: REPORT".

"Our researchers had warned us about Shay Cormac´s memories from the day we received them. The reports stipulated that not only the chances of discovering a suitable memory to upload to the Helix were minimal, they also mentioned that, on a first general background check, some memories were corrupted.", Mr. Berg explains, outlining said information on the screen. "The set of memories that you began to study a week ago, my friend, were the only fragment of memories that were not damaged or corrupted, yet still had its flaws."

" _The glitched memories"_ , I deduce mentally. What else?

"We were afraid that, when the virus was set loose on our facilities, genetic sets of memories stored in our servers would have been in risk of being wiped out. It didn´t, even though that was the objective.", Mr. Berg continued.

"The virus had been planted before we began using them, we have already concluded that. We just haven´t found out who could have done that.", Violet interrupts.

"Someone from the inside who works with the retrieval of genetic sets and their uploads. The matter is being investigated as we speak."

My thoughts must have been the same as the others on who the insider worked for. Who else?

"Regarding the previous topic, I have a question. If the genetic memories were unstable, how come the data we collected could be acquired without destroying the genetic data?", Ms. Lemay inquires, leaning on an elbow to better look at the laptop. "I´m afraid I cannot understand that."

"No one can agree on facts regarding that, but they follow a common theory: A few numbers of other analysts can adapt better to a subject´s memories than others, sometimes synchronizing well enough to be able to move further than the chosen memories or achieving a bigger sync rate than the totality. Our friend here is likely one of them.", Mr. Berg tells them, motioning me. I felt some pride in those words.

"That´s great and everything, however these memories are different. They go back to when Shay is defecting the Brotherhood and show a different outcome. We know that that did not happen. So what are these memories?", Violet asks, voice filled with impatience.

"We´re investigating. For now, we must continue to examine them. But first, we must save the data and download them to the Animus. That is your task.", Mr. Berg informed. He takes a hand to his right pocket and takes out a white flash drive which he slides to me. "This flash drive will secure the integrity of the data by analyzing the contents for signs of viruses. Once it´s done, upload the data to server H-039. This meeting is over."

With no more words to pass, the four of us went on with our duties for the day, Violet following me to the elevator, intending to go to the lobby. We didn´t say a thing to each other, even when I left the elevator and headed back to my Helix.

"Hey, you. New guy.", someone called me. Looking to the source, I see a woman in a lab coat with Abstergo´s insignia walking towards me with a communicator. Mine, actually. "You forgot this while you and Ms. Costa were meeting Mr. Berg. Next time we find a communicator forgotten by someone, we can fire them for not having their equipment."

Thanking her with a nod and remembering her warning, I retrieve my communicator. I check it from front to back, put it inside an inner pocket of my uniform and continue on my way. After reaching my work zone, I insert the flash drive in the Helix console below my work bench and wait for the data to be transferred. To kill time, I open my mail-box to check any messages I may have missed during the meeting.

" _Newsletter from Abstergo for December, uninteresting; E-mail from Harry, should get in touch with him; And.._."

Huh.

What kind of e-mail is this? _« _ _ . . _ _ _ _ . . _ _ _ _ _ . . _ . . _ _ . . . . . . _ . . _ . _ _ . _ _ _ »?_

Tapping the e-mail, it opens up to reveal a two-line message written in the same type of code and a video of 0:40 seconds. As I decided to watch that video, the computer lets me know that all the available data has been fully uploaded and no viruses were detected. Removing the flash drive, I postpone watching the video for later and head to the server room, deep below the lobby. I remember when I had last been there, delivering a message, full of Shay´s memories, to the Assassins, and seen how they suddenly went into panic mode, calling for "Gavin". Is it evil or cruel for me to say that some part of me enjoyed seeing them going in disarray?

The elevator comes to a halt on my destination and I walk out, whistling distractedly along the way as I make my way to the servers, using the wires spread everywhere to find them. The dark chambers were still as creepy as I recalled. After searching for the right server between the hundreds, if not thousands, of servers, I insert the flash drive on a slot. The server begins to process the data before downloading it into a safe file, its progress showing up on the orange screen.

 _10%, 34%, 67%..._

"Psst."

Hearing that sound, clearly human, I spin around in alert mode And I see a woman. Standing very close to me, smile visible beneath the mask that covers her mouth and nose, with her brown hair cut short and gray eyes amused. She snuck up on me, that much I gathered. Counting on my surprise, she throws a punch aimed at my jaw to paralyze me. Her punch, however, is dodged very narrowly, and quicker than I can think about what I´m doing, I grab her stretched arm by the pulse and twist it around her back, putting an arm around her neck and pressing hard.

" _Thank you, Shay._ ", I thank the deceased man. Didn´t think I would ever be glad that the Bleeding Effect would save me.

But, without me noticing her resistance over thinking to myself, I fail to notice her slamming the back of her head against my nose, painfully breaking it, and forcing me to release my grip on her. Clutching my nose and hollowing in pain, I fail to see her throw a roundhouse kick to my face, sending me headfirst against the servers, the force of the kick making me break some keyboards. That was enough to put me out cold.

What came next, over the next hours was darkness, with moments of consciousness that came and went before I could make use of them. Sirens, gunshots, words, an engine coming to life, feet walking over metallic floor.

"… _happened?"_

"… _ure he´s the target…"_

"… _ck complete!"_

" _G… Get…nning."_

" _Iniciat…"_

One sound, however, was easy to pinpoint, coming from the machine I was laid on. A Helix machine.

" _Connect… 11._ "

Ugh, great.

* * *

 **Hello everyone.**

 **First things first, this is not the new chapter. This a sort of filler so you guys can know that I haven´t given up on this project (hence the ".5"). The real chapter should be coming next month.**

 **Second, this filler is the present-day segment of the story. Originally I hadn´t planned on including something like this, but I felt like it would give me some freedom on writing without having to stick to episodes of the series. And because it´s fun. I hope you liked this inclusion and don´t fret. The wait is almost over!**


	6. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

 _WELCOME TO HELIX 1.9._

 _FLASH DRIVE DETECTED. DOWNLOADING DATA. DOWNLOAD COMPLETE._

 _INTERFACE LOADED. AWAITING CLEARANCE._

 _SUBJECT CONNECTED. SCANNING FOR SYNCH COMPABILITY. SCAN SUCCESSFUL._

 _SYNCHRONIZING SUBJECT… SUCCESSFUL._

 _LOADING ENVIRONMENTS. LOADING CHARACTERS. LOADING DATABASE. DATABASE UPDATED._

 _AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED. SEARCHING FOR POINT OF INTEREST. SEARCH COMPLETED. RUNNING MEMORY…_

* * *

The Earth Kingdom was rumored to be unstable. And when a kingdom is unstable, there´s no better opportunity to strike.

Their intelligence was correct after all. Several men corresponding to the descriptions of the remaining members of cells of Equalists had crossed the borders to the Earth Kingdom two weeks ago, and ever since then the manifestations had grown in number. They were converging in one of the oldest kingdoms in the country in order to rise from the ashes and once again start their Anti-Bending movement.

Not on their watch _._

It had not been easy to track them down due to the size of the kingdom, but persistence and connections had fared great results when the team found a cell spending the night on Chin Village. While his knowledge of Earth Kingdom wasn´t wide, explanations from one of his fellow agents served to figure out the purpose of their presence in the village: If Avatar Day was celebrated to honor the Avatar, then that day was great to take control of the village without much resistance while making a strong move to reignite the anarchistic movement. But, that had not happened, fortunately, as their intervention (in the shadows) prevented them from attacking without even being ready. What had been more rewarding, however, were the coded letters found on the cell´s leader, stating where other groups, thirteen to be exact, had been set up and their next moves throughout the country.

By calculating where they had been and the probability of converging in a single place, they had discovered that their final destination was Ba Sing Se, rumored to be under great tensions under the authoritarian regime, liable to a revolt that could and would lead to too many casualties. The increased urgency of the mission hadn´t deterred their hopes, instead giving them the motivation to carry on. After sending reports to President Reiko and warnings to Earth Queen Hou-Ting, each agent agreed to split up and cover two cells each, which, if gone according to planned, would leave the remaining cell weakened and easier to detain inside the capital.

Which brought him to a village in western Earth Kingdom, located by the mouth of a lake.

Sunset was upon the village, a mixture of light yellowish-orange and pink clouds that some stopped to admire. It was actually uncommon to see the deep coloration of the clouds that day. There was the lingering feeling that it brought harm, yet also beauty. Most people looked long and hard at the sky, thinking over their own theories and explanations, and then continued to travel to wherever they were needed. But not the barefoot man dressed with a plain dark shirt and grey pants with his back to the window, leaning forward to better see what he was writing. Given the amount of natural light that illuminated the room, he had been forced to light a lamp over the desk. There wasn´t much furniture in the room, aside from the untouched bed with green covers, a travel bag and a sack laid next to the pillows, a wardrobe full of untouched hangers and a telephone by the bed table. The desk was clear of any unnecessary objects, leaving only a portable radio, a holster for two flintlocks, one kept secured and the other at his side for an emergency, and a sheet of paper, in danger of joining others in the trash bin a foot away from him. A long dark coat rested on the chair, the air rifle hanging from one of its arms. His hands hold a brush soaked in ink that lingers inches from the untouched paper.

" _How do I even start the letter? 'Hello, I´m sorry for not caring to write you'?",_ he groans mentally, resting his hands back on the desk.

Putting down the brush, he gets up and goes to the window to look at the sunset and everyone still out on the streets. Before, he hadn´t bothered to observe. However, no one had contacted him yet and in terms of creativity he was null. He might as well pass the time doing something other than trying and failing at writing news. And right now, he sees the sunset and the back of his mind becomes sharply alert at the purple colors that slowly engulf the sunset. He spent enough time in this world to know that that was not ordinary. The worry grew bigger when he felt as if his head had been coated by water.

" _Héping. Have you looked at the sky today?"_ , he greeted, keeping the conversation in his mind.

" _ **Fortunately no. It dreads me to see that the balance is being damaged.**_ ", the spirit´s voice says with equal parts of somberness and sadness.

" _What´s causing this? Is it the Harmonic Convergence?",_ Shay asks.

" _ **Yes. As of now, Vaatu is attempting to escape his prison to try and engulf the world in darkness. I detest these events.**_ ", Héping says.

" _This isn´t the first time it´s happened, right? He couldn´t break out before, and this year won´t be much different.",_ Shay tries to comfort his companion. " _Do you want to discuss somethin` else in the meantime?"_

There´s silence before he feels an imaginary nod. " _What are you doing?"_ , Héping asks.

" _Well, I was trying to write a letter for Tenzin and his family, but I just don´t know what to write."_ , the Irishman says, walking back to his desk.

" _ **How hard is it to say that you are fine? Is it because of the mission**_ **?** _",_ Héping looks at the paper through the man´s eyes.

" _Aye. All the other letters have always been the same. 'I´m fine; Don´t you worry about me…', at some point they´ll start believing I want to avoid them.",_ Shay complains, grabbing his air rifle and looking for a piece of cloth to polish it.

" _ **That isn´t true, Shay. I´ve seen them. They worry for you and want to know where you are.**_ _"_ , the spirit says. If she could, she´d scowl the man for such negative thoughts.

" _And pray tell, when did you find the time to do that_?", Shay inquires, polishing the rifle after removing the dart inside the barrel.

" _ **I am not restricted to the necklace. When I want to, I can retreat back into the spirit world and interact with other spirits. And from what I gathered, the older of the Airbender´s children has been showing the ability to see beyond the physical world.**_ ", Héping explained.

" _Do you mean that she´s become a psychic?"_ , Shay guesses.

" _ **Yes, one who can see spirits. I attempted to communicate with her, although it proved fruitless. She may be able to see me, but she cannot hear me. So I had to resort to sign language.**_ ", Héping continues.

As Shay think of another question to ask, Héping pulls his mind into her own. Mildly surprised, Shay quickly gets his bearings and casts a frown to the spirit standing in front of him. When they had first met, and for a few weeks, neither of them had ever met face-to-face. Through mental training and daily meditations, their connection had grown to the point that they could share a corner of Shay´s mind for the two to communicate. The corner in question was a giant square, outlined by white cloud-like thick lines and with the environment colored in blue, neither light nor dark. There were no sounds other than Shay´s breathing and the conversations that took place in there This place, dubbed "safe-haven", had been created by a combination of each others` influences, hence why the two were standing of the deck of _The Morrigan,_ on the left end of the square, with her sails folded and anchored near the river bank of a vast forest, where the trees stood higher than _The Morrigan_ and the leaves were pulled in every direction by an unknown wind. In the middle of the forest, there was a clearing where a stone pedestal stood right in the center, the jade necklace on top of it.

Héping, in her primary form of being, was a "kind spirit", with big round yellow eyes with red circles surrounding them, a barely visible neck that connected the oval shaped head to a skinny upper body and arms and legs equally skinny that ended in round hands and feet with four fingers and toes. The mouth was absent from her face, but the words were projected by tapping into a person´s mind, making communication only possible by bonding with a person´s inner chi. Crystals covered her in different parts of the body, but her chest was where there was a bigger concentration, forming the insignia of the Assassins. That evening however, she had changed, shaped into a person from Shay´s memories. She had taken the form of a shining crystallized Liam O´Brian.

Had she done that months ago, he would´ve rudely told her to be anyone else, anyone, but not him. Now he wasn´t so bothered.

"How are they?", he questions, this time out loud. He didn´t need to use a mental link in that place, something he was glad for.

" **They were doing well when I last spoke with little Jinora. Actually, Jinora is not so little anymore. She and her siblings have grown, but they remain the same.** ", Héping says, a trace of Liam´s accent mixed in, still using telepathy. No matter where she speaks, she is always restrained by the physical boundaries of communication. As she speaks, white mist shapes in the forms of the Airbender family, all smiling as if posing for a photograph. Shay notes the little bundle in Pema´s arms, wrapped in covers, and sees her belly had lost its round shape. Sensing his question, Héping continues. " **The new child is named Rohan, an Airbender like his siblings and looks much like his father.** "

The revelation brings warmth in Shay´s heart and he smiles, feeling sorry for not being there when he was born.

" **They have faced many dangers and survived. Meelo has trained a pack of ring-tailed winged lemurs to follow his orders. Ikki is starting to take after his mother. Out of the three, she misses you the most. Jinora is making steady progress in becoming a fully accomplished Airbender. Her connection to the Spirit World is strong and she is the only one to possess it.** ", The spirit continues.

"I thought all Airbenders had a spiritual connection. That´s what people say at least.", Shay frowns in confused wonder.

" **Just as a Firebender can´t generate lightning unless he attains the skill to do so, so can´t an Airbender hold a strong spiritual connection unless he develops his inner spirit. Some Airbenders achieve this skill, others live without with. Jinora is the first Airbender to accomplish this in almost two centuries, if we exclude her grandfather, for having been the previous Avatar.** ", Héping clarifies. Shay nods in understanding. He should have asked Tenzin about the extent of an Airbender´s power, and not take what he had heard on the streets for granted.

"So how go things in Republic City?"

" **The city is nearly recovered from the Equalist´s Revolution. And even though tensions arose from the war between the Southern and Northern Pole, people are always finding ways to further entertain themselves.** ", Héping reveals. The images beside them morph into a miniaturized three-dimensional replica of the city, Air Temple Island some centimeters apart. " **Your work outside the city has reduced the possibility of another uprising.** "

"Aye, I know.", Shay concurs, walking to the mast and putting his back against it, eyes wandering up to look at the bird´s nest. With a thought, he wills the place to create transparent men, working on the ship. "We are so close now."

" **I trust in your success tonight.** ", Héping says, unfazed as a sailor walks through her while sweeping the floor. She takes a look at the ship come to life. " **Do you miss them? Your brothers-in-arms?** "

"I do. Some more than others. They might have hunted me in the Manor, but they had every reason to.", Shay´s answer comes slow and heavy.

Héping made it a point to never allow him to let go of his memories of the Colonies. Last year, Shay had been stubborn in avoiding the subject, with her, with his team, with everyone. Over time, as his absence from his old home grew, fond memories of his childhood had started to come out more than usual and it had given plenty for his tenant to ask. Her main interests had been knowing about what had changed since Ezio Auditore. Shay, while not an expert in the Brotherhood´s history, knew enough of the world to know how the chain of power worked: growth to full power once, then depleted or destroyed some time later, then the cycle would begin again. He did tell her about the new colonies, the dispute of their ownership between the British and the French, and the roles the Assassins and the Templars were playing in the war.

" **You believe things should not have happened the way they did** _ **?**_ _",_ Héping questions, sensing somberness in her friend.

"Thousands gone to hell thanks to a man who cared more about having Pieces of Eden than the consequences. He must have know.", Shay angrily replies. Flames flicker in the corner of the eyes and he discovers he has left his ship. He´s in a crumbled building devoid of people, which he recognizes as a convent. The Convent of Carmo, in Lisbon. Fear starts to crawl its way up his intestines.

" **What if he didn´t? Would your disposition towards your former Mentor change** _ **?**_ ", Héping asks him, one eye narrowing in an imitation of quirking an eyebrow.

Instead of offering a verbal answer, Shay manipulates the environment. More color seeps into the place, painting a huge red house, a two story manor to be exact, with a perch, surrounded by bushes and pines on a sunny day. Seagulls fly over the house, squawking and descending to stand on the edges of the roof. The manor was made of bricks with three white windows on the upper story and two on the lower story. Between the two lower windows was a door made of oak. The roof had black piles and a smoking chimney, meaning someone was inside and making use of the fireplace. It was a building unlike Héping had ever seen…

On the perch, protected from rain and sunlight by a ceiling held by two pillars, sitting by a table, were two men. Both had their hood lowered, revealing their African lineage. From their attitude, they were comfortable around each other. One, sitting facing the horizon, had short hair and a moustache, concerned eyes and the posture of a serious man. His arms supported him on the table as he leaned towards his companion, whose age shown in his face and his eyes. He was bald, with three thin black lines under his eyes as some sort of markings and a white goatee. He sits in a straight position, hands (of a sailor, she notices) resting on his lap as he talks to the man. Acting as a bodyguard, another man stood outside the perch, arms crossed and hood up, using his eyes to watch every sign of movement, ready to act in case the situation demanded it. He, however, had his back turned to a figure hidden in the bushes, his blue colored clothing out of place amidst the green and brown of nature, unnoticed by the older men discussing a problem.

From having caught a glimpse of said figure before in a memory, Héping deduced it was Shay, younger.

"I hate to bring up practical matters at a time like this, but did Mackandal´s man complete his task before the earthquake hit?", the man with the moustache asked, his voice sending a wave of unpleasantness through the Irishman.

"I cannot know. Vendredi has not been found. He was a strong Maroon, one of Mackandal´s best students.", the other says with a strong voice.

"Such a shame. So we cannot know if he found the site.", the man of the moustache regretted, leaning back in his chair.

"Indeed. But if there was a temple under the waves, I doubt it is still standing.", the older man agrees.

"And the artifacts that showed the way?"

"Stolen. The Templars broke in during the chaos. They seized the Manuscript and Precursor box. I gave chase on sea, but lost their trail when they reached New York."

"We must consider what to do next."

The memory flickers and fades, and they return to _The Morrigan_.

"Did you see? Achilles never asked about the deaths of the people of Port-au-Prince, the whole topic was just the artifacts.", Shay points out, louder than he meant to.

" _ **I admit not hearing him mention that, but it still doesn´t prove he deserves your bitterness. Perhaps Achilles was prioritizing. Why bring up the subject, if there was nothing he could do?**_ ", Héping suggests.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

In a second, the link Shay was sharing with his friend was lost and he found himself back in his rented room. He moved towards the door and opened it, looking at the person who had knocked.

"Can I help you, mister?", he asked the bearded bald man whom Shay had come to know as the owner of the inn he was staying at.

"This just came in for you.", the man reported, holding a folded piece of paper in his hands. Shay takes the envelope from his hands and reads it to himself. "Honestly, we have just installed a network for new telephones. If someone wants to contact someone else, they can call now. Very few people write these days.", he adds with a chuckle.

"Writing people is never outdated, mister. I prefer to write myself, it´s much better to demonstrate your character. Thank you.", Shay comments, closing the door as the man bows and retreats.

Shay´s polite smile drops while folding the paper once more back. He heads to the bed table, lifts the headset of the telephone, dials a number and rests the headset against his left ear. The call is picked up almost immediately.

"This is Republic City´s Ministry of Security, how may I help you?", a female voice greets, business-like.

"Agent Shay Patrick Cormac; codename: _Nán_.", Shay says.

"Identification?", the female voice continues, still business-like.

"Nothing is true, everything is permitted.", Shay intones in a monotone.

There´s a pause so small one could even say it was nonexistent. "Wait a minute, Mr. Cormac. I´m redirecting the call." There´s a second pause that ends when the female voice gave way to a familiar voice. "Agent Cormac, what´s your status?"

"Ready to go, sir. What am I looking at?", Shay reports, talking as a soldier would to his superior.

"Our intel confirms Gang was sighted interacting with an associate near an apartment. After that there has been a concentration of men and women of multiple cultures. One has been identified as a known member of the community named Takeda Wan, a local industrialist who controls the exportation of the local fish. He´s got no criminal record, and yet he meets with Equalists. I need you to conduct an investigation on the matter before you act against your targets.", the voice belonged the director general of Republic City´s Security Service and coordinator of operations of his team, Hanzo Chun.

Shay nods obediently. Hanzo Chun was a man who made sure all information reported to him was thoroughly checked and rechecked to avoid any problematic situations, and if it was said that the Equalists had a contact in the village, there probably was. It was thanks to this procedure that the man in his mid-fifties was respected and looked up to as a reliable source of information.

"And another thing: The others have already reported back to me that their assignments have been completed. While I would usually order them to meet back at the safe house, they insisted that, and I quote, 'We want to end it together as a task force, not individually'.", Shay´s superior adds, which gets Shay to grin. "They will be joining you by the end of the evening."

"Understood, sir. We´ll speak later. Agent Cormac out.", Shay declares, hanging up. " _I must be getting started then._ "

He reaches for the sack and flips it upside down, watching clothes and metallic objects fall on top of the sheets. He looks at the outfit. His colleagues all wore a standard outfit designed for clandestine operations, like Shay had for some time, though later on it had been destroyed beyond repair and so he had asked for a different uniform. When confronted about the design by his teammates and the director-general, he had revealed that his occupation prior to his current job had been the same as now (although without going into details), and that the uniform was viewed as an identity and a sign for fear. And fear it had brought to his adversaries, so much that a whole cell in the Fire Nation had once recognized and became hesitant in attacking him.

Dressing it over the clothes he was wearing, Shay made sure his Hidden Blades were safely strapped and his holsters secured before taking all the darts in his pouches and leaving the room. Only his air rifle was left in the bed, useless for the time being.

* * *

Crowds gathered around the market zone to buy food to use for that evening´s dinner or to try their luck on that month´s lottery. Most people there were talking with whoever accompanied them, children ran around and collided with adults who´d shrug it off or send an annoyed complaint that fell on deaf ears, and businesses was made.

"Why, good evening, Mr. Wan! What can I do for you?", a merchant greeted the man.

Said man, of average build and graying hair, ordered vegetables and rice, which were handed to him in separate bags. After that, the merchant asked what he thought of the strange sunset, to which the industrialist gave him his opinion, paid for the groceries and left. All the while being watched by a man who sat seemingly casually in a bench staring at his gloved hands.

As he watches his target leave the marketplace, he stands up and follows him, keeping some distance away from him to avoid suspicion from falling over him. Whenever he stopped, he stopped as well. Whenever he looks around the crowd, he´d blend in by joining people looking at a stand or hiding behind the stands inconspicuously. Anyone who saw him walk by would take him for a tourist visiting the village and left it at that. Or a man descended from Fire Nation colonists, if his clothes, albeit out of ordinary for the weather, were anything to go by. Under a dark brown coat, the back of its upper part colored yellow, he wore a green waistcoat held together by three buttons over a white shirt with an open collar. The interior of the coat was completely dark, from the hood to the edges. A yellow sash was wrapped around his pants, black like his leather boots. Those with keener perception could make out long objects poking from inside his coat, easy to draw out if needed, and stayed away. His eyes kept following the bald man as he went to other stands, buying more food, declining offers or socializing briefly.

Finding the man hadn´t been a challenge. Takeda Wan was a man of habits, known by everyone, and had about fifty percent of the populace employed in his manufacturing company. A man who believed in an employer-employee relationship and knowledgeable in the cultures of the four nations, he hadn´t been amazed by the saint-like picture people painted him. Taking his investigations to the pubs and outskirts of the village had led to different points of view however. A group of drunkards had criticized Wan for firing a big number of people just to replace them with foreign manpower, people who have been nothing but trouble. In further detail, they had arrived two and a half weeks ago. One disgruntled retired fisherman had confided that Wan had been evasive about that subject, going so far as to lock himself in his office for a whole day.

"Why you care so much about Mr. Wan is not part of my concerns boy, but if you can find out why he´s changed and reverse it… You would do this village a favor.", the retired elder had told him.

Shay would see about that.

Wan left the market zone and walked towards the lake, into one of the neighborhoods, still followed by Shay. He acknowledged the greetings but ignored those who wished for a minute or two of his time, picking up his pace as he went deeper into the neighborhood. Then, when the lake was in sight, he turned right into an alleyway that led to a different street. Hiding behind a corner, Shay observed the man nod towards a tailor and turn left. As the Irishman continued to stalk him, the streets gradually became filled with residents looking out the windows, intrigued by the approaching purple night. Were he not busy with the task ahead, he would ask Héping how the containment of Vaatu was going. The curiosity of the village was, however, inconvenient for Shay right now.

He would have to continue through another street, lest he wanted suspicion to fall over him. Yet he did not want to lose sight of the industrialist. So Shay blinked and focused his senses all at once, calling forth his gift. The sky darkened, the village got brighter and Wan was enveloped in a golden light, along with the footprints he was leaving on the street. Shay assumed a crouching position and looked at each civilian peering through their windows, ignoring the markers of their bending abilities, and called off his second sight. Where before were dark haired citizens mostly hidden from his view, now were blue colored people that could be spied on, even when Shay made a sharp turn to the left and returned to the street he had walked out of seconds ago.

If there was a time to be proud of his skill in his second sight, it would have to be later.

Wan, visible through the walls, was starting to grow apprehensive the closer he got to his destination, constantly throwing glances over his shoulders. He checked the contents of his grocery bags, swearing afterwards and showing panic. Shay saw him take steady breaths to calm down and inhale deeply, returning to his walk with an agitated expression. Shay interpreted that as a sign that he was afraid of something. Some meters ahead, the street was undergoing repairs and the Earthbenders in charge had closed the access. Some stationed members of local authority told people to take another route home, sometimes pointing paths to take to get to certain neighborhoods. Shay slowed his pace, watching intently for where Wan would go on his side. The man had paused to rest his arms and was checking a pocket watch, putting it back in a pocket and bending his arms to recover from the exhaustion faster. Picking up the groceries, he started to increase his speed again and continue down a neighbor street.

Shay had to find an alternative path. Tall walls of bricks had been built in the alleyway so he needed another option. There were, however, taller trees with branches filled with foliage that almost covered the view of the sky in the space between the houses. One tree in particular, to his right and next to a parked Jeep, had a bifurcated trunk and thick branches, which he could use to get up the roofs. Shay took a running start to jump to the hood of the Jeep, hoping the alarm wouldn´t trigger and draw attention to him. That was quickly ignored when, unexpectedly, an earth column was bent beneath his feet, just as he was ready to jump to the car, and he was thrown up to the roof.

Training kicked in and Shay tucked his knees and spread his arms so he could grab the bifurcations when he landed on the trunk. Recovering from the unexpectedness of the event, Shay turned around and searched for the Earthbender he guessed had done this, quickly finding him already on the roof.

He shook his head. He´d deal with him later. For now, Shay concentrates on climbing to the branches to his right and jumping to the roof where the Earthbender stood. Looking back, the earth column was already gone.

"Strange way to say 'hello', don´t you reckon?", He asks solemnly. Then he cracks a smile. "How long have you been here?"

"Got here 'bout an hour ago. I may be the first to have arrived I think, ´cause I haven´t heard from the others yet.", the Earthbender, a young man in his late twenties, answers with a reciprocated smile. He looks over Shay´s shoulder and quirks an eyebrow. "I´d shake your hand and everything, but you´re letting your man getting away."

Shay glances over his shoulder too. The time it took for him to fully climb the tree had been enough for the target to become a spot at the end of the street.

"No worries. I know where he´s going.", he reassures, turning to walk away. "Coming?"

* * *

Following the businessman for another half an hour, Shay and his partner left the more populated center and entered the northeastern outskirts of the village, where the polished brick and wooden buildings were replaced with shacks, irregular in height and built into the forest stretching towards the mountains. Less people were out on the streets now. By now, Takeda Wan was almost running, clearly anxious to get wherever he wanted to go.

With Shay spying on the man from the streets and the Earthbender from the roofs, they saw the man slow down, look to a particular ugly looking attempt of a building and approach it. Shay hid in the corner of a building far enough not to be spotted and waited. Wan looked around before knocking. Shay saw a pattern in his actions: the man knocked hard twice, then thrice lightly and finally once more hard. Seconds later the door opened slightly, just enough so the person on the other side could see who was it.

"You got it all?", Shay´s focused ears picked up the voice of a man.

"I couldn´t bring you Gemsbok bull like you asked. They didn´t have it today.", Takeda Wan lied through a shaky voice.

"Who told you get that? No one said they wanted that.", the man growled, confused. Before Wan could utter a word, a gloved hand reached out to the bags. "Y`know what? Nevermind that. Just give me the groceries."

After the industrialist did that and the mysterious man closed the door without so much as a goodbye, the former turned around and walked away, relief drawn on his face and disposition. Shay looked up to his partner, who met his gaze.

If the sunset was the same as every normal sunset, the Earthbender would have been able to blend in with the environment. However, with the sky growing increasingly purple as time passed, he could easily see the bright green and brown colors of the man´s outfit. The green short-sleeved shirt clung to the man´s body like glue, with the edges tucked inside his dark brown baggy pants and a belt holding it all together. On his feet he wore black boots that were nearly covered by the pants.

 _"Do we let him go?"_ , the Earthbender communicated using gestures.

" _No. Come down and cut him off"_ , the Non-Bender gestured back as he backed away from the corner so he wouldn´t be seen by Wan.

The Earthbender vanished and Shay waited for the target to pass by, after which he followed closely. Not long after, Shay´s partner showed up from one of the alleys, stopping in the middle of the street and in front of Wan. He fixed the man with a hard, stern look that made him freeze in his tracks. Wan turned around and found Shay in front of him. Cornered, he backed to the left, so he could keep them both in his eyesight.

"Gentlemen, I don´t have any money with me.", Wan said with hands raised in a defensive position.

Shay drew a quick breath and hardened his expression. For years, he had drawn inspiration from one of Achilles` many scolding expressions to create his own menacing look. Hours had been spent in front of a mirror testing out multiple frowns and scowls, adding one detail and dismissing another. In this new world, the search for the perfect intimidating visage had continued. Some had worked and others had evolved over the last year. By now, either people gulped and shivered at the sight of the menace Shay imposed or met his stare with a challenge.

Takeda Wan fell into the former category.

"We aren´t looking for money, Mr. Wan. What we want is information.", he rectified, taking a step closer in the man´s direction. Wan stepped back in response. "We want to know what you are doing in this part of town."

The industrialist managed to look confused and scared at the same time.

"That´s it? Y-you just want to know that?", he asked, looking between Shay and the other man. "I just went out for a walk."

"Mr. Wan, lying is not your best play here.", Shay´s colleague advised. His face twisted into a grim look and he took a step closer. "We saw you coming here with groceries and delivering them to the residents of that building." He pointed towards said rundown building.

"I come here often to distribute food and other supplies to those in need. What´s wrong with being charitable?", Wan rebuked.

"He didn´t seem too grateful for the help.", Shay pointed out. "You don´t come to this part of the village. Usually your executives do."

"I told you, I just felt like taking a walk. Please, let me go.", Wan pleaded.

"Xī, he doesn´t seem willing to tell us the truth.", the Earthbender said in a conversational tone.

"You´re right, he doesn´t.", Shay agreed in the same tone. "Perhaps we should do this the hard way."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Hard way? No, no, no, no, no, please, please…", Wan was sweating now and his eyes looked ready to bulge out of his skull.

The two partners moved as one towards the industrialist and the latter cowered in dreadful anticipation of pain. Shay experienced a familiar pang of guilt for putting the man through this, one that was put aside very quickly.

"Takeda Wan, I am agent Nán and this is agent Cǐ, and we work for the International Anti-bending Revolution Repression task force.", Shay says while showing him an piece of plasticized paper. Wan glanced at the card. He saw a photograph of the New Yorker's face, his codename and the name of the task force written in bold letters. He saw the man named Dōng show him a similar piece of paper with his photo on it before they simultaneously put them away. "We are aware that there is an Equalist faction hidden in the village and that you have been acting as their contact to the outside world."

"We are looking for a man named Gang. He is about my height, of Water Tribe ancestry and a long beard.", Cǐ continues, showing another photograph. "The man you were talking to, was he this man?"

Wan recovers from the revelation and examines the photograph. He no longer looked threatened as his breath became less loud and hope shined in his eyes. He nods almost instantly and turns around, gesturing for them to follow him. They enter an alley, out of sight of anyone passing by, and Takeda Wan tells them everything:

"He came to my office one day under the pretense of presenting to me with a new idea for ship manufacturing. As soon as we were alone, he revealed what he stood for and told me I was going to help him hide in here. I asked him if he was out of his mind. He was expecting me to say it, because he showed me a photo of my parents tied up to a chair. 'As long as you assist me and my comrades, we won´t harm them', that´s all he said. He left my office, but not before he said we would be in touch."

"How long have you been helping them?", Cǐ questioned .

"A month and a half. First it was a small group of five, then more began to show up and taking residence. Now the whole building is crawling with those bloodsucking leeches and I´m in charge of feeding them."

"Do they carry weapons?"

"None that I´ve seen. But some have arrived with heavy bags."

"Do any of them come out?"

"Some do. I started to fire workers from my company so I could employ their people. They want to keep an eye on me as well. The villagers hate me for it, but there was nothing I could do."

Shay processed the new information in his head before speaking slowly and calmly. "Mr. Wan, you have been very helpful. Here is what we´ll do: Don´t come back here or other sites where Equalists may be hiding. Return to your office and stay there until we call you. Afterwards, head to the local inn and tell the man I´m expecting you in room 19. Come alone and speak to no one else today. Do you understand?"

"Very well. Once again, a thousand thanks.", Wan nods obediently and starts heading out of the alley. Midway he turns around. "Excuse me, I don´t want to seem ungrateful, but… I thought you were going to beat the truth out of me."

The sides of Shay´s mouth lift briefly in a smile. "When we said we´d have to use the 'hard way', it was meant that we would need to expose our operations to a civilian." His smile vanished and a serious expression morphed in its place. "But know this: If you ever speak about this conversation or what we are doing here to anyone, we will make sure that no company will ever want to do business with you. We´ll spread enough rumors to publicly disgrace you for life. Not even your family will want to be with you."

Wan, regretting he ever asked that, leaves the agents alone in the alley.

"You exaggerated, y´know?", the Earthbender asked.

"I know, Dishi. It´s exaggeration that makes them believe me.", Shay explained, this time addressing him by his true name. "Now we get back to the inn and wait for everyone else."

As the two men left the periphery of the city, Shay thought about Tenzin, Pema and the kids. After a year and a half, he could return to Republic City and be with them again. He´d return to the metropolis and visit all the landmarks, spend some time in the park and catch up with acquaintances.

" _One last time."_

* * *

 **After so long, I posted another chapter. I thought that I was done with writing after my massive writer´s block. Good thing I´m stubborn.  
**

 **And this is what I pictured Shay was doing while Season 1 and 2 were rolling. I will gradually tell how he got where he is now, don´t worry.**

 **In case you´re having difficulties picturing Shay´s new outfit, it is the Tracker outfit. I thought that instead of creating a new attire for him, I could take one of the game´s outfits and make it canonical here.  
**


End file.
